COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHEN I HEAR THE WORD ‘CULTURE,’ I REACH FOR MY WALLET “i just wish i could base all my purchases off rigorous aesthetic and historical trends rather than the underlying economics and my base financial well-being. everyone has their personal priorities and should have the right to cater to those priorities as they see fit. as for me, i fully intend on buying the cheapest and most efficient/utilitarian townhome to fit mine and my families needs, which is of course guaranteed to be ugly and of shoddy construction. if i choose to defer proper maintenance on it for 40yrs in exchange for a well-funded roth IRA and 401k, is that really so morally reprehensible (especially after what the boomers are doing to this countries finances)? on the positive side, in 40yrs time a much better and more efficient home will be built making all those aesthetically pleasing and expensive townhomes of current years look out of place, again.” [joel, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Apartment Hunters]
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Townhomes
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE REPLACEMENTS “I happen to live in a 3-story townhouse and love it. There are plenty of older homes, 4-plexes in my neighborhood too, but yes, it’s basically becoming a 3-/4-story townhouse haven. While many people speak about the “history†of Houston in these homes, I find many of them to be dilapidated and run down (not all, of course). So, I see no reason to enjoy keeping up decrepit structures that 1) need to be remodeled or 2) demo’d. Don’t fool yourself — not everything that is old is built to last or of quality craftsmenship. There are a lot of cheap townhouses being put up, but there are also some very nice ones out there (including mine). Also, what’s the deal with everybody hating stucco? What makes ugly brick feel full of life and warm? . . .” [Fernando, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Apartment Hunters]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: INVASION OF THE CAR SNATCHERS “It’s a mystery to me who lives in these new construction [townhomes]. I make considerably more money than the average wage earner in Houston, and I sure don’t live in one. Look at The Fink and then look at the monstrocity next to it, with the huge a/c unit in front, constantly kicking on and off. I think pod people live in those things and they keep their pods there. Think about it . . . do you ever really see someone who lives in those kinds of townhomes? You may occasionally see the huge garage door open and shut, but never see the people.” [Darogr, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Apartment Hunters]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MOVING ON FROM MONTROSE “You wouldn’t have expected that pioneers on the plains would’ve built teepees, would you? In the same vein, developers aren’t building $700k townhomes for the indigenous bohemians of Montrose (whom cannot afford them and often do not want them or see them as an affront to their being); the townhomes are built for the West U set. You must come to terms with the geographic displacement of your people and the natural resources that once provided for your subsistence. Resistance is futile, and would only be an impetus for conflicted political outcomes, and co-opted movements that veer into misanthropic endeavors. Prepare yourselves, and move to Houston’s eastern hinterlands. To remain on your sacred ground, your only alternative is to go back to school and get your MBA, so that you can adapt to the West U man’s strange ways and speak their tongue. But I think that you should go, and be with your people.” [TheNiche, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Origins of the FrankenTuscan Style]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT PEOPLE DO IN HOUSTON “The reason that the 4th Ward shotguns were ‘shit,’ in my view, is that the marketplace decreed them as such. If they were valuable and well-liked, people would’ve bid up the price and competed to live in them. If the building materials were so fantastic, then there would’ve been an active salvage market on the parts. To my knowledge, that did not occur. Sure, what replaced these homes will have a shorter physical shelf life…but as demonstrated by the demolition of these sturdy homes, the economic shelf life is the deciding factor. As I stated previously, ‘People did what people do, and they did it in that location; that’s all!’ By building townhomes destined to become shit, people are doing what people do, and they’re doing it in that location; that’s all. Thereby, history is made…and I don’t care.” [TheNiche, commenting on Comment of the Day: Ballad of the Fourth Ward]
Also in the brand-new listing for a single-story “patio home” designed for the original owner by Preston Bolton off Yorktown: photos of the 2-bedroom, 2-bath pad from closer to its 1971 debut. If the now-empty home and its original blue kitchen don’t convey quite the air of Watergate-era sophistication you were looking for, try picturing yourself relaxing, internet-free, in the included black-and-white views. The 2,630-sq.-ft. home’s roof, AC, electrical panel, and water heater have all been replaced recently, but almost everything else is still as it was:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: REPORT FROM THAT NEIGHBORHOOD SOUTH OF THE RIVER OAKS SHOPPING CENTER THAT NOBODY KNOWS WHAT TO CALL “Who says this is going to be townhouses? This is my neighborhood. While there are certainly plenty of townhouses in the area, the overall trend has moved decidedly toward single family homes. As I type, there are at least a half dozen new single family homes under construction within a few blocks of this site. While this house appears to be quite nice, I’m guessing whatever replaces it will be much nicer. I know it’s standard operating procedure for Swamplotters to hate everything new, but the single family homes (and even the townhouses) being built in this neighborhood are typically quite nice. This demo is more the exception than the rule. Most of what gets torn down around here is garbage.” [Bernard, commenting on Tiny Done-Up Woodhead Cottage Is Townhome Fodder]
This cozy little white-picket-fenced 1,224-sq.-ft. cottage on Woodhead north of Fairview went on the market just as the holiday weekend began. But already “developers are swarming with offers and not even looking at the home and gardens,” a source tells Swamplot. Why bother, when the 1930 home sits on a 5,000-sq.-ft. corner lot along Welch St., just 4 blocks south of the River Oaks Shopping Center? New driveways away! But . . . okay, what would $369,500 would buy here?
Actual trees are still standing in the Magnolia Grove lot where that live-oak clearance event began last month. What’s left: A little street mustache lining Feagan St., between Snover and Jackson Hill. The reader who sent these photos — and says she appreciates “raw” local real-estate news — wants to know what’s going in.
These are probably the last images you’ll see of two large oak trees on the 4200 block of Feagan, says the reader who snapped pix this morning of the clearance event that’s been going on there for the last few days. There’ll be no designing around them, apparently: A worker on the property “said he hated to do it but both remaining oaks were coming down.” Coming in, gathers the reader: maybe 28 new townhomes between Dickson and Feagan St., just west of Jackson Hill. “Numerous smaller oaks, pecans, hackberries that are now crunched on the ground” were hacked away earlier.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WORKS EVEN BETTER WHEN YOUR NEIGHBORS STUFF THEIR TOWNHOUSES WITH FOAM PEANUTS “I live in a 3 story townhome (2800 sq ft., shared walls, middle unit, north-facing) and the pleasant surprise for me has been the utility bills. July/August/September (bills since 2008) – no more than $140/month (@ ~.10/kw). Electrical bill drops down to <$100 in the winter. Since I have shared walls, the units on either side of me act as additional insulation for me.” [Terry, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Dramatic Entry]
- 3102 Soutine St. [HAR]
- Previously on Swamplot: The Modigliani: Gated, and Very Close to the Med Center
- 2314 Waugh Dr. [HAR]
- 2827 Pease St. [HAR]
Workers are dismantling the two half-built-and-holding townhomes at the corner of Jackson Hill and Washington Ave., says the reader who sends us these photos of the activity at the well-known and well-weathered properties. Demolition permits for 915 and 917 Jackson Hill showed up on Swamplot earlier this week. “No bulldozers or anything, looks like they’re disassembling them from the top down,” explains our tipster. Could this be the dawn of . . . a brand-new parking lot for Washington?
