Comments on: Neighborhood Guessing Game: Office Managers

By: Army Vet

Army Vet — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:51:10 +0000

Off of Briar Forest just inside the Beltway

By: marmer

marmer — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:36:56 +0000

I’m from Lake Jackson, and some things about this remind me a little of my mom’s house (although her house is far more modest.) The biggest houses of this vintage were actually rather more strongly mid-century modern than this seems to be. Ben Koush has written in Cite about LJ as an MCM time capsule and I’d like to follow up in more detail myself. But the decor and scale of this house,taken together, do not remind me of LJ, particularly. I also think that LJ is a little too remote from most Houstonians’ experience to be a good candidate for an NGG location. Gus, of course, may disagree. Some things here remind me of a Meyerland Mod of the Month a few months back, but it’s not the same house. I’m sticking with a ranchy rambler along Willowbend. Thank goodness it doesn’t hurt to be wrong, or I’d be in the hospital by now.

By: karen

karen — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:36:28 +0000

I would have guessed Old Braeswood because I live in house of this age. And yes, that drop in stove and double oven I’m sure are original to the house - it was the Hit of the Year - the GE All Electric Kitchen! We’ve got it in chrome. Looks nice, works…not so much.

However, this house is not in Old Braeswood because there are no ranches currently for sale there. I thought it might be my neighbor’s house - they’ve downsized and will soon sell, so all you MCM lovers, stay alert for a listing on Bellefontaine! If you love those heavy drapes, you’ll die for my neighbor’s pink brick, pink scroll iron, multifaceted windows and more!

Oh, and that “breakfast nook” is outrageously large. Big family? Catholic neighborhood? Down there by Park Place perhaps, near Hobby A/P?

That taxidermy room is s.c.a.r.y. And I think the home health aid had an eBay business on the side what with all that packing & shipping going on in the laundry room.

By: EP

EP — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:18:49 +0000

Westbury!

By: tcpIV

tcpIV — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:58:27 +0000

…but if not Creekside…Tynewood!

By: Carol

Carol — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:49:57 +0000

I’m trying to figure out why we like this house so much. It’s not just the cool mod furniture and decorations, or the funky taxidermy room. Maybe it’s that the house looks like the family was so much fun. Maybe it represents the family we all want to go home to on holidays, when Grandma pulls out the Betty Crocker cookbook and makes the greatest stuffing ever and Grandpa tells his hunting stories for the thousandth time. Maybe this was the real American middle class dream of the 1950s. Cue the violins and the teardrop. I second the call for a field trip. Realtor: Please schedule an open house!

By: tcpIV

tcpIV — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:24:42 +0000

I’m going for Creekside Gus.

By: movocelot

movocelot — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:09:19 +0000

Hey - we all need a Field Trip!!

I agree that Madame spent time, taste & money on this expansive home. I like the theory that she may indeed have been a native oriental.
It makes sense to me that it would be located in Lake Jackson, Pasadena, Texas City or Mt Pleasant - some hotbed of affluence back in the day.
‘Monsieur’ may have been a somewhat absent, workaholic executive, and thus banished to the UPSTAIRS ‘Trophy Room’ ADD-ON, as well as his tiny, grim Office with over-worn chair carved out of, of, is that the garage(?)
I surmise that Madame passed, and, Monsieur kept the home unchanged; had a maid who even kept the cobwebs off the artificial flowers! [There's a lovely Hallmark special.]
Notice the so-called ‘boy’s room’ has a phone and a boombox.
Notice the Utility Room has a microwave.
A son may be living there while the home is on the market - treading lightly.
[I just love assuming stuff.]

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:50:02 +0000

This is a tough one. It’s definitely West Side. Pre Galleria. But it’s outside the loop–or what would have been the loop at that time. I can’t imagine it’s inside the loop. I’m going to have to go with Meyerland.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:18:04 +0000

It’s midway between Spring Valley and Hedwig Village. The curtains are drawn tight against the cicada-like Katy Freeway thrum. There’s a house dress that matches the eternal autumnal bedspread hanging damply from a hook in the closet.

By: JT

JT — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:18:19 +0000

Okay I am obsessed with this one. I keep reviewing hoping some tschotkis on a table may trigger something. This house was definitely custom with those slate floors. I recognize that door in the office–that knob, that stain—so mid 50s. Matron obviously did some redecorating between 1968-72 but she had an interior designer. There is too much consistency with color flow for the average homeowner. Those coral dining chairs must be vintage 1958.
Since those are spoken for, I want the stone top dining table!
I started second guessing myself and entertained the notion that this was some Dow Chemical execs place in Lake Jackson but I am sticking to the Memorial Villages.
I am guessing that Matron died some years back and the Mister had no desire to redo things. That is his wheeelchair in the office and his recliner in the family room.
The other hint that this is a 50’s home is that corner window in the guest bedroom–notice how the coral drapes wrap around.

By: Miz Brooke Smith

Miz Brooke Smith — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:13:58 +0000

Guess #2, just a stab: Somewhere around the latter, larger parts of McGregor/Riverside, one of the great rambling ranchburgers of the late 1950’s. Something about those long vistas from room to room, the stone floors and walls of windows brings those glorious pre-Meyerland manses to mind. That Chinese bedroom, that twin-bedded wonderland of soft textures, those couches…I am utterly in love with this place, its gold and greenish hues, its fuzzy orange velours and hard brassy accents, its grasscloth and brick walls, and its musty mildewy musk.