The Chron’s Craig Hlavaty reports from the scene of still-ongoing renovations to the bedecked and multi-turreted home at 2309 Wichita St., better known as the castle-like former duplex, orphanage, and daycare facility in Riverside Terrace that former owner and VA nurse Charles Fondow spent 31-odd years renovating and expanding as his own quirky residence, inspired by his sightseeing travels in Russia and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Fondow died in 2011, his life’s work incomplete. New owner Nick Ugarov, who picked up the property from a bank sale in 2014, has continued Fondow’s legacy with a multi-year renovation project of his own:

***

“Since 2015 Ugarov has added five new air conditioning units, an elevator, a commercial-grade water heater, paved the front yard for extra parking, and added 18 cameras inside and out for extra security,” Hlavaty notes. “Ugarov has tried to stay as close as possible to Fondow’s strange vision of what the home should look like.” Ugarov tells him renovation costs are approaching $1 million, and that the property is destined to become “a boutique hotel or commercial meeting space.”

But Ugarov and the team at his contracting company, Centerpoint Remodeling, aren’t just adding on to the structure. He says he wants to take away from it as well. “We want to move away from the mysteriousness and the spookiness,” he tells Hlavaty. “It’s a Houston landmark.”

• 2309 Wichita, one of Houston’s favorite quirky homes nears end of its renovation [Houston Chronicle]
• Previously on Swamplot:Lucky Buyer of Castle-Like Riverside Terrace Wichita St. Mystery House ‘Mulling Over’ What To Do with It; Wacky Wichita St. Mystery House Is Back on the Market, for a Low, Low Price; Wichita St. Mystery House Now in Foreclosure; Everything But the Turrets: The Riverside Terrace Estate Sale You’ve Sorta Been Waiting For; Wichita St. Mystery House Goes on the Market Today: Your First Peek Inside; Charles Fondow Leaves His Wichita St. Mystery House Unfinished

Photos: Craig Hlavaty/Houston Chronicle