Judging from its debut in this morning’s demolition report, it’s looking like the end of the line for the classic 1960 steel-and-glass home at 6040 Glencove St., near Bayou Bend and Memorial Park.
What’s going away?
The house had the kind of wide-open spaces that modernists love, and its floors were marble - cool, [original owner André] Crispin says, under bare feet in the summer.
At 4,600 square feet, the house was large for its era, plenty big enough for the Crispins’ four children and their grand-scale entertaining. When Crispin and his wife hosted musical events, 200 to 300 guests thronged their dramatic living room. There, those guests could admire the wall of glass 14 feet tall. It offered a view of the untamed back yard, a rolling ravine filled with sassafras trees, rabbits and armadillos.
The home was designed by Houston architect Talbott Wilson, 2 years before his firm created the Astrodome. Its current owner, David Mincberg, was appointed by Mayor White earlier this week to serve on the board of commissioners of the Houston Housing Authority. Mincberg bought the property last spring from an owner-broker who employed an innovative marketing plan: the Midcentury Modern came free with purchase of the dramatic 1.35-acre homesite.
What did Mincberg end up paying?
Comment of the Day: Idylwood Appraisal Case Closed
“All of you people are batsh!t crazy if you think you can get a house like that in Idylwood for the low $200’s. If houses LESS than 1300 sq ft have been selling for just under $200,000 or $145 to $150+ a foot. Do the math. 500 more sq ft, a second bath that not all of the other sales had and more upgrades for only $10,000 or so more? . . . This house has closed. It sold for $242,000 as well it should.” [Robert, commenting on Idling in Idylwood: Where’s a Friendly Appraiser When You Need One?]