For $2.25 Million, a Big Built-Out Lot on a Block of Westmoreland Farms in Bellaire

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At just shy of an acre, a Westmoreland Farms property in Bellaire packs in an updated 1955 home, garden, pool, tennis court, and one mighty rocky fireplace in the vaulted great room. Other megalots on the block, which runs from the West Loop’s feeder road toward S.Rice Ave. (at Bellaire High School), have mansionized with more recent construction. Is this home, listed at $2.25 million earlier this month, similarly fated?

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Here’s another look at the main room’s big top (above). Built-ins found in the library off the far corner of the room appear to be stained to match the wooden panels finishing the keel-like ceiling. Though the listing doesn’t include a more dedicated glimpse of the front entry, there is a peek at what appears to be a side door leading to the garage toward the back of the home:

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HCAD indicates a 1992 renovation. The dining room, which juts into the front yard, rises into another vaulted ceiling with high contrast finishes. Another sturdy fireplace, this one with a slightly raised hearth and firebox, blocks the room’s street view. Instead, full-height windows provide side views of the grounds and an under-the-eaves walkway toward the home’s front entry (not pictured).

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The 6,022-sq.-ft. home’s main staircase appears to land between dining rooms, one formal (above) and the other informal. The latter adds some bar-height seating near the adjacent kitchen:

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Off the family room, the well-stocked wet bar’s motif is suitably on the rocks:

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Three of the 4 bedrooms are on the first floor, and there are 5 camera-shy full bathrooms plus 2 half-baths. The master suite gets a fireplace as well, this one with tiled hearth:

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The listing mentions a “packing island” in the master closet:

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The secondary bedrooms display an assortment of room shapes and built-ins:

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In the crow’s nest of a dormer upstairs, the ceiling-timber combo reverses the high-contrast finishes found downstairs. In addition to the game room . . .

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the roomage upstairs has a bed and bath:

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Elsewhere in the floor plan, however, a 2nd staircase . . .

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serves an aerie with designated office-craft-media pods:

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Meanwhile, outside, the greenhouse serves up more ribs:

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Dive in . . .

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Or slide in. The lagoon, with waterfall, has some serious landscaping

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. . . which joins up with a lily-filled koi pond. Beyond the farthest end of the yard, a less-scenic concrete drainage ditch also borders the strip center north of Meyerland Plaza.

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Yard amenities pop up at every bend of pathway: 

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A deep lot also means a deep setback for the home. Its 3-car garage lies behind a 2-bay carport, both accessed from the stamped concrete driveway, which also has a section curving across the front of the home.

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Sticks to the Ribs

9 Comment

  • To crappy to actually pay money for the house, a little too expensive for lot value.

  • Wow what a great home, giant lot, mature landscaping!
    A few weird bits inside to address…
    For one thing: all the angles – pretty unusual. But I like this place!

  • Love the home’s exterior and landscaping, and also like the living area shown in the first pic, but the rest of the interior is extremely outdated and unappealing to me.

  • Think this house, like one on Willowick, from Friday would show better if it were vacant. The furnishings and drapery and border wallpaper are quite distracting let alone that teal carpet. Nothing someone with a little vision and a lot of cash could not fix.

  • This will be a tough sell. Nobody will pay that to live in a house like this and it’s way overpriced for lot value. I’m sure they will come down eventually and it will be purchased for the lot and soon and it will give way to some huge monstrosity that’s vaguely Mediterranean, I think I hear the bulldozers now.

  • I like this place. Is that a clawfoot tub on the walkway by the expanse of lawn? That’s probably a much better use for it than in the bathroom. I’ve hated them since my first experience with one at my grandmother’s house.
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    I’ve never liked fireplaces. Too much work for too little heat. Oh I know, they are very romantic and all but please, someone has to clean up the ashes.
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    But I do like this house and grounds. No need to worry about disturbing the neighbors. Yes, nothing wrong with it that a little money can’t fix.
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  • Inventory in Bellaire is even tighter than innerloop Houston. It’s going to sell for full price.

  • That stretch of Maple has been ripe for renos lately, and with 40K square feet, I’d bet folks who can shell out for the parcel of land will do just that. It’s higher than recent sales, but that’s par for the course…

    http://www.har.com/homevalue/4815-Maple-Bellaire-77401-M26742038.htm

    http://www.har.com/homevalue/4807-Maple-St-Bellaire-77401-M24225237.htm

  • It’s sold and there are pink ribbons around the trees. So on the downside, it’s probably getting demolished. On the upside, whomever is demolishing it appears to want to keep all the beautiful old oaks.