Neighborhood Guessing Game | Swamplot | Page 9

02/03/09 4:25pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Lamps On

Neighborhood Guessing Game

What makes this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game different from all the others that have gone before? This time, the winner gets an actual prize!

Thanks to the Rice Design Alliance, the winner of this week’s competition will receive a one-year individual membership in the RDA. If you’re already an RDA member, you can give the membership to a friend. And if you’ve never heard of the RDA, you can learn more about the organization here.

So . . . let’s review those rules then: Pore over the photos in this post, and look for clues! If you can guess the actual neighborhood of the pictured home, you win! If more than one person guesses the actual location, the player who presents the best explanation for the guess wins. If nobody guesses the correct neighborhood, the prize may be held — for next week’s contest.

An important detail: If you already know the pictured property, or if you come across the listing while the game is being played, please don’t ruin the game for everyone else! You’ll still be eligible to win the prize, but only if you follow these specific instructions: First, email us a link to the actual listing. Then post an incorrect “guess,” along with a convincing but deceptive supporting argument. If you do this well, you will win special recognition for your obfuscatory efforts. And if you do it very well — and nobody guesses the actual neighborhood — you’ll win the prize!

So how about a few more of those photos . . .

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

01/29/09 8:08pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Across the Street

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Southside Place

Unlike properties featured in previous rounds, the home in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game wasn’t for sale. It was listed on HAR as a rental.

Maybe that’s what made it so difficult?

Well, someone must have found it. Sometime between Tuesday and today the listing disappeared.

Your guesses? Three for Montrose. West University, Southampton, and Southgate attracted 2 each. There were a number of long or inventive neighborhood names, such as “near the Menil,” Bellaire outside the Loop, the “Vassar/Milford/Banks” area, “somewhere off Fountainview somewhere near 77056,” off Hammerly/Long Point, East University (â€œwhatever the area west of Greenbriar, north of Holcombe, east of Kirby and south of the Village is called”), “the Mandell/W. Mandell area bordered by Westhiemer to the North, W. Alabama to the South, S. Shepherd to the West and Montrose to the East,” “the area between Westheimer and West Gray bounded by Shepherd to the West and Montrose to the East,” “that neighborhood thatâ€™s just west of Weslayan on the north side of the SW freeway,” and “in the Meyerland area, all the way in along da bayou to the med center area.” The rest: Medical Center, Museum District, the Heights, Hyde Park, Riverside Terrace, Garden Oaks, Lynn Park, and Weslayan Plaza.

No winner this time. But we have 2 strong runners-up: Brad, who came close enough to set up his own neighborhood:

. . . for lack of a better idea, Iâ€™ll guess whatever the area west of Greenbrier, north of Holcombe, east of Kirby and south of the Village is calledâ€¦ East University?

And marmer, who tells a pretty convincing story:

This is a nice little pre-war two story that someone added a big den to the back of. Notice how thereâ€™s painted brick to the right of the fireplace but not the left? Thatâ€™s where the end of the original wall was. The fireplace brick is different (though the chimney brick looks similar though unpainted.) Enclosed sunroom was probably the sleeping porch, originally screened. The dining room bay window keeps it from being too old. You see this kind of thing all the time in Galveston where someone will make a historic southern townhouse livable by adding a big den and kitchen in the back. But I donâ€™t think itâ€™s Galveston. Probably more likely Montrose, Southgate, or Southampton.

Keep going with those “South”s . . . !

But the real answer is . . .

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

77025, Braes Heights, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Southside Place

01/27/09 12:55pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Sitting in a Corner

Neighborhood Guessing Game

It’s time to play the 40th edition of the Neighborhood Guessing Game. Have all neighborhoods been guessed already?

A quick rules refresher: Guess the location of this Houston-area residence by putting clues together from the photos. If you guess the correct neighborhood, you win! If more than one player guesses the right location, the prize goes to the player who provides the better explanation for the guess.

If you know this home already, or if you come across it this week, please don’t ruin the game for everyone else by spilling the beans! Instead, you can have a little fun with the other players: First, email us with a link to the HAR listing. Then add a wrong guess, but give a convincing explanation for it. If you do this well, you’ll win special recognition for your efforts!

Ready for the photos?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

01/22/09 9:12pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Coffered Up

Interiors, Memorial Villages, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Spring Valley

Here’s where you thought the home pictured in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game might be: 4 of you guessed the western portion of Bellaire, and 3 of you guessed Meyerland. There were also votes for Tanglewood, the Museum District, West University, Southside Place, Clear Lake, Willowbend, South Post Oak, Braeswood, Old Braeswood, Briargrove, Lakeside, Memorial, “along the edges of Memorial Dr. between Chimney Rock and Briar Forest,” “older Memorial, anywhere between Silber and Chimney Rock,” Champions, Spring, The Woodlands, Piney Point Village, and Hedwig Village.

Darn good guesses, most — on a very, very tough house to figure. No one named the exact neighborhood this week, but the winners came close!

With a guess of “generic Memorial,” tcpIV was the only player to describe an area specifically circumscribing the house. And we’ll give first prize also to Scott, who followed tcpIV’s footsteps and named one of the house’s neighboring neighborhoods, Hedwig Village. Congratulations to you both!

Three other players deserve honorable mentions. Brad wins one, for identifying the home’s origins as an “older Ranch.” Darby Mom also tallied quite a few clues:

The older front door and expanded floor plan say maybe a big ranch on one of those big lots in the area just west of Bellaire, Braeburn Country club . . . Meyerland is a possibility, but I think this entryway is too wide. The owners really put some bucks into the kitchen cabinets, granite,floors, and the coffered ceilings . . . The amount of investment could be typical for that area, too. The trees outside are mature I think, so it would have to be an older established area.

And Miz Brooke Smith attacked the geometry:

Given the tiled floor, requisite granite counters and open concept in the kitchen and adjacent family room, and *all that space* â€” is that a butlerâ€™s pantry? â€” this place appears to have had the entire back wall knocked out and the house greatly expanded ca. 2002, probably into the backyard. So where is this big house? The yard space required to accommodate that buildout, and those deep windows in the downstairs bedroom, belie Meyerland. Yet the notion of even keeping the original part of the house instead of demolishing the whole business says this isnâ€™t, for example, Sandalwood.

So where is this place, really?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

77055, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Memorial, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Spring Valley

01/20/09 4:27pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Counter Point

Neighborhood Guessing Game

How well do you know Houston real estate? Here’s the game that lets you put your knowledge to the test!

This week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game follows our 2009 rules: Look at the photos in this post, and try to find clues that might help you figure out where this home is. Enter your guess in the comments.

Whoever guesses the right neighborhood wins! If more than one person guesses the correct neighborhood, the prize goes to the player who provided the best explanation for that guess.

If you already know this property — or come across it in the HAR listings — please don’t ruin the game for everyone else by entering the answer. Instead, you’re welcome to help confuse the other players! First, send us an email with a link to the listing, so it’s clear what you’re doing. Then enter a wrong guess — supported with a clever explanation — just to throw everyone else off. If you do it well, you’ll win special recognition for your efforts.

Here are the rest of the photos:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

01/15/09 9:32pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Cutten Close

Cutten Green, FM 1960, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

Some wide ranging — but very sharp — guesses in this week’s game!

There were 2 votes each for Spring, the Woodlands, and Fort Bend, plus 1 each for Quail Valley, Missouri City, “the newer parts of Missouri City/Sugar Land, off Highway 6 and the powerline easement,” Mission Bend, and First Colony. The rest: “Memorial just outside the Beltway,” Newcastle at Bissonnet, Westchase, Sagemeadow, Sageglen, Katy, Pearland, “near Spears Rd. and Veterans Memorial,” “one of the 1980s subdivisions off of Dixie Farm Rd.,” Champions, “off Briarforest, just inside Highway 6,” Oak Forest, Copperfield, Bear Creek-Highway 6, Blackhawk, and “the 1960/Cypress area off 249.”

This week the top prize goes to 3 players, for their almost-triangulating guesses. First, CK, who went out on a nearby limb with that tossed-off “near Spears Road and Veterans Memorial,” after naming a whole bunch of far-flung suburbs. Why that intersection? Because

Thereâ€™s crap like this out there too.

Even closer was Scott, who guessed Champions, then almost threw off the judges by declaring himself “bad at this game.”

The “1960/Cypress area off 249″ guess came from movocelot, who also earns points for narrowing down the home’s age with this insightful “could be seventies, could be eighties” accounting:

These say 1980s to me:
windows with low sills, drywall returns, tiny little transoms, black appliances, tympanum Levolour shade in Master.

â€œThings that make me go â€˜70s:â€
heavy ceiling texture, shiny, built-on-sight cabinets & plywood/applied-molding â€˜panelingâ€™, small baseboard, chair rail & crown, white 4Ã—4 ceramic bath surround, bold stained glass (I donâ€™t see how folks can tell itâ€™s plasticâ€¦ looks like HO has a hobby)

And now . . . will the real neighborhood please stand up?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

77066, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

01/13/09 10:27am

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Flower Glass

Neighborhood Guessing Game

This week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game will follow our revised rules again: You win if you can guess where the pictured home is! (If more than one player guesses the correct neighborhood, the player who provided the best explanation wins.)

If you already know this home, or if you come across it on HAR, you can play too — but only if you’re willing to be a little tricky. Just send us an email with a link to the listing so we know what’s up, then add an incorrect guess to this post that’s misleading enough to throw the other players off. If you do it well, you’ll win special recognition for your efforts. If you know this home but don’t want to play the game that way, then please stay out of this round so others can have a chance.

That’s it! The rules are easy, and playing is easy. But winning is tough. Are you ready to play?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

01/08/09 8:38pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: The Missing Link

Interiors, Linkwood, Neighborhood Guessing Game

Knollwood Village was the clear favorite of this week‘s neighborhood guessers, with 4 of you spotting the house there. A few more guesses huddled nearby in the southwest corner of the Loop: Linkwood, Woodshire, Woodside, “south of Braeswood between Buffalo Speedway and Stella Link,” and “the neighborhood South of Holcombe/Bellaire and West of Stella Link behind the Palace Lanes (Lanark St).” Riverside Terrace got 2 votes. The rest: Meyerland, Afton Oaks, “around the Galleria, Chimney Rock, Richmond area,” Bellaire, Antoine/43rd St. off 290, Willowbend, east Westbury, Braes Heights, Ayrshire, Robindell, Long Point Woods, Royal Oaks, and Shadow Oaks.

Great work, everyone!

We had 2 winners this week. Chris, who included all the right names in this neighborhood roundup:

. . . ahhh those corner windows, itsy-bitsy crown molding, and green tile betray this homeâ€™s location. The only area I know of that is so corner-window crazy is the Knollwood/Linkwood/Woodshire/Woodside part of the inner loop.

And Swamplot-Award-winner Miz Brooke Smith, who turned in another strong performance:

I would narrow the area to south of Braeswood between Buffalo Speedway and Stella Link. The living room-dining room-kitchen layout, quality and nature of the wood floors, old-fashioned wooden bathroom cabinets & knobs, proportion of door to 8â€² ceiling height, and tell-tale brass-colored doorknobs also speak of this time & place. Same goes for the view out the window through mature oak limbs to the one-story brick rancher across the street (both of which â€” house & roadbed â€” doubtless have their share of historic clay-gumbo cracks and seams). The handsome re-do includes new windows, and perhaps a built-out sun room and porch off the kitchen, overlooking the backyard deck?

Honorable mentions go to all the Knollwood Village guessers — Joni Webb, toadfroggy, and Pat — who were close but ended up on the wrong side of Buffalo Speedway.

And here it is:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

77025, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Linkwood, Neighborhood Guessing Game

01/06/09 4:45pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Green Washing

Neighborhood Guessing Game

The Neighborhood Guessing Game is back — as promised — with updated rules for the new year!

The basics remain the same: Look through the interior photos in this post and try to guess what neighborhood the pictured property is in. Add your guess in the comments.

But here’s one of the things that’s changed slightly: From now on, the winner will be whoever names the correct neighborhood and backs it up with the best explanation.

Also changed: the rules for people who already know the pictured home — or who happen upon it on HAR or anywhere else during the course of the game. If you know the property, you now have only 2 options: 1) gloat about it privately; or 2) send us an email to prove you know the correct answer, then add a comment with the wrong answer but a convincing explanation — just to lead the other players astray.

If you do a particularly good job with option 2, you’ll get special recognition for your efforts. Please don’t try any other options if you’re already familiar with the property, because you’ll likely only ruin the game for everyone else.

That’s it! Are you ready to play?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

12/18/08 11:57pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Sugar Walls

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Sugar Creek, Sugar Land

Great game this week!

Here’s where you thought this home was: 4 of you guessed Memorial, 2 the Memorial Villages, and 2 Crestwood; Hunter Creek Village and Hedwig Village each got a vote. There were 2 guesses of Sugar Land, 2 of Sugar Creek, and 1 of Sweetwater. There were 2 votes each for FM 1960 and Champion Forest, plus single guesses of Huntwick and Olde Oaks. Plus: The Woodlands, Kingwood, Pasadena, Clear Lake, River Oaks, Tanglewood, Twin Lakes/North Eldridge, Bellaire (or was that Bel Air?), and League City.

The winner was writergeek, who guessed around, but ended up getting it — all the way down to the golf course:

For some reason the entry screams Sugar Land to me – either Sugar Creek (near the country club) or Sweetwaterâ€¦ The dated decor screams of the flight to the suburbs in the 80s and it looks like they went bust shortly after since the house hasnâ€™t been touched since. Perhaps someone who was in a S&L scandal?

An honorable mention goes to movocelot, who was first to detect the home’s actual age:

Expansive rooms, painted brick, ceiling beamlets, applied molding on cabinets say early to mid 70â€™s to me.

Congratulations! Here’s what you’ve won:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

77478, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Sugar Creek, Sugar-Land

12/16/08 8:06pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Window Seats

Neighborhood Guessing Game

Back again with another Neighborhood Guessing Game! Are you ready to play?

You know the drill. We’re still playing under the same old rules — for now: You look at the photos below. You start to get a sense of place. Maybe you start to get a little sleepy. But then you shake that off, and scroll to the bottom of the page so you can enter your guess of this home’s neighborhood in the comments. And you explain your brilliant methods of photographic deduction.

Got it? Let’s see those photos, then:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

12/11/08 7:27pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Tanglewood and Blue

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Tanglewood

We’ve had a pretty good run of 35 Neighborhood Guessing Games. So a train wreck like this week’s contest was probably overdue.

At least 6 participants in this round already knew the property posted on Tuesday. Sadly, only one bothered to spice up the game by writing in with the answer, then attempting to deceive the other players with wacky but mildly credible guesses. Most everyone stuck by the rules, but those rules will probably need to see some adjustments (beginning next year) to prevent the NGG from turning into a contest where players compete to guess at things they already know.

Here’s where those of you who were actually guessing thought this colorful pad might be: Meyerland, Tanglewood, the edge of River Oaks, Southampton, Mandell Place, Montrose, the Medical Center, the near Northside near Patton and Main, on Blossom near Shepherd, the Memorial Villages, “somewhere near the Galleria,” Rivercrest, Southgate, Rice Military, Camp Logan, Memorial near Westcott, “that modernish enclave of new houses north of Richmond and west of Kirby,” “just west or southwest of Highland Village shopping center,” or off Woodway near Buffalo Bayou.

The winner this week was John, who managed to stretch out his quick guess into this complete sentence:

My guess is, of all places, Tanglewood.

A few of the many (later) Tanglewood entries:

I think it is that hideous house that is painted school bus yellow just off the boulevard that was built maybe 10 years ago.

this has to be that horrible house in tanglewood near chimney rock.

This has to be that bright yellow, Legorreta wannabe house just east of Chimney Rock.

It reminds me of the hotel Pierce Bronsan stayed at in Matador. All that purple, pink and yellow sure is festive.

Special honors go to this week’s double-agent, Richard, who unleashed some mad FUD-inducing skillz:

The owners of this paean to contemporary high-class-Mexican architecture are probably maxing out their platinum American Express cards at the Louis Vuitton shop at the Galleria. The scale and colors remind me of the Camino Real Hotel in Mexico City, but if they want to sell this house in Rivercrest, theyâ€™re going to have to make a trip to Home Depot for some taupe and tan colored paint. This second-home for Mexican immigrants of the non-gardening-or-custodial variety is in Rivercrest, probably even north of Briar Forest on Crestbend. . . .

In fact, after reviewing a previous Swamplot headline, may I venture to guess itâ€™s on the corner of Crestbend and Enchilada??

So what’s the scoop?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

77056, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Tanglewood

12/09/08 4:18pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Local Color

Neighborhood Guessing Game

First things first: If you know this residence, or if you think you know it, please read this page and focus your attention on rules number 3 and 4.

For the rest of you: Welcome to this edition of Swamplot’s Neighborhood Guessing Game, where you never know where you’re going to end up!

Many of you know how to play already: Study the photos below, look for clues, then try to figure out what neighborhood this place is in. Explain how you’ve come to your conclusion in a comment. Then wait . . . for Thursday, when the answer is revealed, and everyone will recognize what a brilliant expert on Houston real estate you are!

Or not.

Wanna chance it? The photos are this way:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

12/04/08 11:47pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: In Tandem

Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Oakdale Place

Where was this thing?

First, your guesses: 2 each for Braes Heights, Bellaire, Westbury, and Garden Oaks. Plus: “within a mile of Montrose/Studemont /Studewood,” east of Montrose near Alabama, near Westheimer and Kirby, Highland Village, Montrose, Meyerland, Castle Court, near the Menil, Sharpstown, West University, Larchmont, Oak Forest, Timbergrove, Lazybrook, Timbergrove or Lazybrook, Spring Branch, “Maplewood, west of Chimney Rock, maybe even right on Beechnut,” “somewhere right off of Shepherd between 59 and Allen Parkway,” Idylwood, near Stella Link, and Afton Oaks.

Fortunately, nobody guessed the Heights. Is it in the Heights? In a lazy, geographical way, maybe. But not really. Only the real-estate agent would call this neighborhood the Heights. Or, more specifically, “Heights/East.”

Which means the winner is . . . the quick-to-the-draw marmer, in the very first response:

This smallish one-story was probably built just before or just after WWII, and is probably within a mile of Montrose/Studemont/Studewood, could be anywhere between Bissonnet and North Main.

And it is — just barely — at the top end of both ranges.

If someone is able to detail the garage history of this home, it might win Carol an honorable mention. Without that, the nod goes to Howard Hughes, for this bit of only somewhat peccable real-estate logic:

Lack of seperation between the living/dining areas, as well as a small squatty window denote this as a post-war houseâ€¦probably from the mid to late 1950s. $ was spent on the interior decoration, so itâ€™s probably in an area enjoying a resurgence.

So . . . what’s with the garage?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

77009, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Oakdale Place

12/02/08 7:27pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Eye Was Framed

Neighborhood Guessing Game

For this week’s game, another reader submission — keep â€™em coming!

Do you know how to play the game?

Look closely at all the photos. Add up the clues. Plot the coordinates on a map. Then impress everyone with your brilliant conclusions! The winner gets a . . . win!

Ready?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

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