Daily Demolition Report: Running on Empty

Look around for the structures that used to be:

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Commercial Structures

Residences

Photo of 717 E. 21st St.: HAR

25 Comment

  • Not E 21st!!! It’s a gem. I’m so sad. Sometimes I hate this town.

  • Really? Knocking down a house built in 1890?
    How many of those do we have left, enough to count on one hand??

    Developers do not have a damn conscience.

  • 77 E 21st sold for $320k. Just too much of a premium to pay for someone looking for a little bungalow. Plus, the immediate block is starting to get chopped up into smaller lots. Why pay that kind of premium for a little house in that neighborhood when you can buy in the 6th Ward or Norhill and be assured that you won’t be surrounded by towers of hardiplank. But, it is a shame that the house wasn’t moved instead of being demo-ed.

  • In a lot of cities, that would be a prized historical structure.

    In Houston, it’s dirt, from which may spring 6 identical stucco townhouses.

  • Tearing down that house is criminal!

  • Does issuance of a demolition permit preclude the house’s removal to a different lot?

  • I…don’t even know how to organize my profanity into a coherent thought for this one. How does tearing down a house that has stood for 123 years, and replacing it with something unlikely to last 30, qualify as “progress?”

  • $320k for 5500 sq ft lot with “teardown” a block off of Main?

    That’s $58 psf.. does that seem right?

  • If that Shell bldg can be consider some historical preservation thing, can’t this house??

  • This is really, really sad. Wish the 21st street house had gone on the market in 1-2 years, my husband and I really wanted the house and workshop but lacked enough of a down payment.

  • And the astrodome is ‘historical’? More importantly, any idea as to whether parts of the house will be salvaged? Kind of like can the organs be harvested at least?

  • RE: Oak Forest Mobil

    Berryhill is going in on that corner.

  • So much for “historic preservation…”

  • @Ian: It is two lots for just under 9000 sq ft.

  • Knocking down a house built in 1890?
    How many of those do we have left, enough to count on one hand??

    Old Sixth Ward, baby.

  • Dont be too upset that the house on 21st wasnt moved. I have been watching the developers move houses into the Brookesmith Area. Most of the time, when they are through remodeling, the house has been totally gutted so the historical significance is lost.

    Another thing worth a tear drop is this trend of demolishing an old house down to the foundation. It has happend at 212 Vincent, 807 Vincent, and 900 Gardner. The houses are still listed as having been built in the 1920s but, in reality, the only thing that was built in the 1920s is the foundation. Everything else is gone.

    I live in a tiny 1920 house. Most of the original floor plan is intact which means the closets are tiny because people in the 1920s didnt have alot of stuff.

  • Sad Houston does not save any building older than 65 yrs something needs to be done about the last few we have left. If someone can get dam good money for it they will sell it in a heart beat and not even think twice about it.

  • Thanks OS, that makes more sense.

  • i drove by earlier today. the green sticker is only on the workshop. i didnt see anything on the house itself. hopefully it will be saved. as far as brookesmith… remodeled bungalos is much better than townhouses. i live in what is probably one of the 3 oldest houses in brookesmith (1905), and im happy to see the interest in the neighborhood in a positive way.

  • Ima start calling Houston DoucheTown.

  • This is so flipping gross.

  • There’s a permit for a residential demolition and a sewer disconnect, so it’s likely the house and the garage. That’s as it should be, if the owner thinks they would prefer to use that lot for something more modern.

  • Someone please enlighten me as to why this pretty bland frame house is so worthy of saving? The gingerbread moulding? The hip roof? How is this early tract house any different from some equally bland 2/3 frame/shingle 1/3 brick ranch that popped up all over Houston in the 50’s?

  • Jay
    Because we have so little history in this town. This represents just another loss.