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Demolitions
A section of John Nova Lomax’s new Texas Monthly essay on Montrose’s continuing “it was better in the old days” rap chronicles a sequence of prominent changes to the neighborhood from the last decade. That it’s possible to find at least one Swamplot story corresponding to each noted example speaks to the longterm vigilance of this site’s tipsters — if not the author’s research methods. (Lomax in fact wrote a few of our stories himself; he’s a former Swamplot contributor and editor.)
Here’s the passage, altered by a peppering with Swamplot links to provide an annotated and illustrated version of Montrose’s recent journey from former counterculture haven to . . . uh, former counterculture haven:
You Were There
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
One must not try to trick demolition, but resign oneself to it with good grace.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT’S IN STORE FOR HOUSTON’S REMAINING MANSARDS 
“These clusters of mansard-roofed ’70s apartments and townhouses dot the mid loop area and will be getting dozed by the dozens during these decades for those wanting large wads of land.” [Dana-X, commenting on The Ripple Creek Townhomes Are Now Being Ripped to Shreds] Photo of Ripple Creek Townhomes at 1015 S. Ripple Creek Dr.: Swamplot inbox
Architectural details, building materials, windows, and flooring are now being picked from the the Midtown building at 1505 Hadley St. known as the Rice Mansion, a reader suggests. The photo sent above from this morning appears to show someone pulling boards from the threshold at the front door. The triple window fronting the building’s attic has already been yanked out.
Also removed from the property: a large amount of Destiny’s Child memorabilia — but that was last year, when the band’s former manager, Mathew Knowles, sold the entire block to the parent company of the neighboring Midtown Advantage BMW car dealership. The Rice Mansion served as the headquarters of Knowles’s Music World Entertainment for 15 years, and was considered the birthplace of the careers of his daughters, Beyoncé and Solange Knowles.
Another building on the property with a Destiny’s Child connection and a later stint as a wedding and event venue — the House of Deréon Media Center at 2204 Crawford St. — was torn down last month.
- Previously on Swamplot:How We Know Destiny’s Child Was Gone from the House of Déreon Before Its Demo; Comment of the Day: The Midtown Home of Destiny’s Child Has Met Its Destiny; If You Liked It Then You Shoulda Put a Bid On It: House of Deréon Gets Its Demo Permits; Daily Demolition Report: Final Destiny; Destiny’s Child Mural on House of Deréon Media Center Wins Midtown Demolition Staredown; Demo Equipment Is Now Waiting Patiently Outside the House of Deréon Media Center in Midtown
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Killing Time
Demolition has begun, a reader notes, on the Ripple Creek Townhomes at 1015 S. Ripple Creek Dr., a 3-building assembly of 2-story structures fitted onto a 2-plus-acre site directly east of the Second Baptist Church complex on Woodway Dr. The gently named Ripple Creek Dr. is the first north-south street east of Voss on the north side of Woodway; the townhome buildings, which were built in 1970, are wedged between it and the more workaday Bering Ditch, an actual waterway known to carry actual water north to Buffalo Bayou on its straightened, concrete-lined haunches.
Woodway Breakout
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Unseen in the background, fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove.
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Do not yield to demolitions, but advance more boldly to meet them.
Here’s a view from late last week of the back of former Exxon Upstream Research facility at 3120 Buffalo Spdwy., as crews continue their demolition magic. Transwestern Development and Spear Street Capital purchased the 16.9-acre site from the oil giant in March, and shortly thereafter began removing structures from the property, including the 550,000-sq.-ft. 1962 building by MacKie and Kamrath Architects — shown here in half-gone mode — and its attached auditorium, which was added in 2003. The eastern wall of the attached parking garage is still visible in the photo.
And here’s a view from yesterday, as demolition advances toward the structure’s Buffalo Spdwy. façade:
Slice by Slice
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Sessums, Sunnyside, Tanglewood! South Central out to the Westside of Houston.
Here’s an interrupted last look at the Town & Country V office building at 908 Town & Country Blvd., which is clearly in the way of the CityCentre expansion.
The 6-story building is the last of a group of 4 being removed from the growing mixed-use district’s northern border. Earlier last month, crews were eating at the structure from the I-10 side:
Now You See It
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
But me and my true house will never meet again, on the bonnie, bonnie lots o’ Loch Lomond.
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Even when you turn your back now, I can feel you demolishing for me.
Here’s the scene from Heights Blvd. this morning, where the former Heights Finance Station — that was the fancy name for the neighborhood’s main post office — lies in trucked-off ruins. The construction fence along the right side of the image lines 11th St. The view from Brie Kelman’s camera faces west, toward Yale St.; the former Citgo gas station now known as whiskey bar Eight Row Flint, on the opposite side of Yale, is visible just to the left of center in the distance (if you look closely).
Here’s a different view of the site from just a few days ago:
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
A lot’s worth is no greater than its ambitions.
