Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Memorial Bend just can’t hang on to its original stock, plus a few other tales of letting go.
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For sale along Buffalo Bayou, just above the junction with still-biohazardous Spring Branch: the Frame-Harper house, designed in the late 1950s by Harwood Taylor. The 3-time houstonMOD Mod of the Month was unwhitewashed by Stern & Bucek in 2007 to the tune of various accolades, but after an initial 2008 listing (at a smidge under $3 million) the home was pulled off and pushed back on the market 2 more times before a late 2011 sale for $1.78 million. The house came back onto the market in August of last year for $3.45 million, holding out until a November withdrawal; the current listing asks for $2.85 million instead.
Above is the family room, with original walnut paneling, and some of the coffered ceilings un-de-coffered by the 2007 redo. Here’s how the rest of the un-remodel is standing the test of time:
Still Bayou Cool
U OF H LAW TAKING ON EMINENT DOMAIN CLASS TO PREP FOR FUTURE AREA LAND GRABS 
An upcoming course at the University of Houston Law Center will focus entirely on eminent domain, in the wake of a similar course now wrapping up its inaugural semester at UT Austin. The law firm Johns Marrs Ellis & Hodge, whose partners are teaching both classes, says it believes these to be the first 2 law classes in the nation to focus exclusively on “the law of taking”; the courses have been added with the expectation that continued population growth in Houston and more than half a dozen other major Texas cities will continue to fuel future infrastructure capacity-boosting projects — including new pipelines, highways, and transmission corridors potentially criss-crossing now-private property. [PRNewswire] Photo of University of Houston Law Center: Douglas R.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY THINGS LITERALLY LOOK BRIGHTER ON HOUSTON’S HORIZONS 
“Actually, Houston has substantially improved both air and water quality in the past few decades. I remember the haze days back in the early 90’s when you could not see more than a few miles through the smog when driving down the Katy Freeway, nor could you see the tops of the taller buildings. Also, nearly all of the illegal water pollution sources have been permitted and/or rerouted into treatment systems. The ones that haven’t are eventually caught and have to pay hefty fines, or the responsible people go to jail. It is true that much of the improvement was driven by federal and state regulation that trickled down to Houston, but that is true for most major cities.” [Superdave, commenting on Comment of the Day: Making Sure the House Wins Houston’s Toxicity Gamble] Illustration: Lulu
Finishing off the sponsor list for this week is Farmstead: Grow & Eat. Thanks for supporting Swamplot, Farmstead!
Farmstead: Grow & Eat is a retail garden center that carries a wide selection of edible plants, including the widest selection of fruit, nut, and citrus trees that grow well in Houston. If you’re interested in setting up your own edible garden, or just want to expand your back yard from vegetation to vegetables, you’ll want to know about it. The storefront also features herbs, seeds, and tools necessary to get you on the path to gardening success.
Farmstead is located at 6640 West Montgomery Rd. in the 77091; it’s open from 10 am to 4 pm on Saturdays and by appointment on Sundays. To find out more, take a look at the Farmstead website.
Your business needs to grow (and eat) too! Find new customers among this site’s vast local readership by becoming a Swamplot Sponsor of the Day.
Sponsor of the Day
WAXING POETIC OVER THE DEMOLITION OF AN ALLEN CENTER SKYBRIDGE 
“The age of confinement is over,” pens Realty News Report editor Ralph Bivins this week in his first foray into real estate poetry. Bivins was moved to verse by the details released last week on the upcoming redo of the 3 Allen Center towers at Smith and Dallas streets — more specifically, by the fact that Brookfield’s plans for the site includes the removal of one of the skybridges between One and Two Allen Center, as well as the earthen berm beneath it. The demo will turn the long-sequestered landscaped green space between the buildings into a street-accessible events lawn. The rest of the poem, entitled A quick verse by R. Bivins for Kenneth Schnitzer, Texas Eastern and the prior generation of downtown development, can be read here. [Realty News Report; previously on Swamplot] Rendering of planned Allen Center redo: Studio AMD
This week’s video release from hometown country singer Robert Ellis takes viewers on a forlorn wandering tour of Houston’s downtown and surrounding thoroughfares, sans all of those pesky people and cars. Iconic cameos include the AIA’s future headquarters on the corner of Franklin and Commerce streets, the WALD warehouse sign at Live Oak and Rusk streets, and Bad News Bar on Main St.; the video also includes a hike down a dead-empty I-45 and associated entrance ramps, several frantic light-rail stops, and a dramatic reunion on the pedestrian bridge over Memorial Dr. at Sabine St.Â
- Robert Ellis shares video for touching new single “How I Love You†[Consequence of Sound]
Video: Robert Ellis
Musical Background
- Daikin Industries Nearing Completion on Largest Tilt-Wall Project in the World in Northwest Houston [Realty News Report; previously on Swamplot]
- How No Zoning Laws Works for Houston [The Federalist]
- UH Students and Professors, Third Ward Community Group Envision a Revitalized Dowling Street [Houston Chronicle]
- LeBron James-Backed Blaze Fast Fire’d Pizza Now Serving Travelers in Terminal A at Bush-Intercontinental Airport [Houston Chronicle]
- SoulCycle Already Planning Second Houston Location, Set To Open in the Woodway Collection Shopping Center in September [HBJ]
- HISD Board Approves the New Names for Schools with Confederate Ties [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Uniting the Previously Divided Second and Fifth Wards as Both Neighborhoods Face Redevelopment [The Urban Edge]
- Downtown District’s Banner Installation Features Quotes About Houston from 100 Past and Present Residents Including Beyoncé [Houstonia]
- In Search of the Quirky Heart of Houston [The Washington Post]
Photo of James Turrell’s skyspace at Rice University: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Looks are deceiving for our early 1900s newspaper building, but clearing out all of these on the list is as clear as day.
- 2903 Ella Lee Ln. [HAR]
The Parkwood Park-side home owned by former Varnett School administrators Marian Cluff and Alsie Cluff, Sr., hit the market early this week. The couple was indicted 10 months ago on federal charges including tax evasion, conspiracy, and embezzlement of more than $2 million in funds meant for students of the charter school’s 3 outside-the-Loop campuses. Incidentally, the current $3.5 million asking price for the house is more than $2 million above what the pair originally paid for the place (the 1941 mansion was sold to the Cluffs in 2011 for $1.3 million), but about 1,200 sq. ft. of space was added to the house during renovations in 2013, according to county records.
And now, your chance to investigate the 2-acre, 6-bedroom property a little further:
Scrutiny in MacGregor
COMMENT OF THE DAY: EXCAVATING ELECTION PROCEDURES IN THE LOST CITY OF HOUSTON HEIGHTS 
“OK, here’s where things get complicated. The current Alcoholic Beverage Code and Texas election law only provide for the possibility of holding a local option election in a county, municipality or JP precinct. It is therefore not clear that the application for a petition can be accepted as written, since the ‘area formerly known as the city of Houston Heights’ is none of those things. To complicate matters further, if the application were re-submitted as covering Harris County Precinct 1 (which covers the entirety of the dry area), it may still not resolve the matter. Current law essentially says that, for the purposes of local option elections, the vote of a justice precinct doesn’t prevail over the vote of a city, independent of date of election. So the 1918 prohibition election would trump the 2016 local option election. There’s a reasonable reading of this that indicates the only way to allow alcohol sales in the dry Heights is a local option election for the entire city of Houston. Since petitions require a number of signatures exceeding 25 percent of the votes cast in the last general election, the petitioners would need many more signatures than there are actual residents of the affected area. Good luck with that.” [Angostura, commenting on Somebody’s Trying to Legalize Beer and Wine Sales in the Heights Dry Zone] Map of Heights Dry Zone: HoustonHeights.org
The previously white house at the northwest corner of Westheimer Rd. and Stanford St. now has an edgy new look, along with some some city permits issued to an entity called Beijing Assassin Tattoos in April. The permits mention a tattoo parlor and retail setup in the building, which was bought in 2014 by a legal entity of the Katz family (of never-closes deli fame 2 doors down to the west of Vinoteca Poscol).
A previous set of permits was issued to Beijing Assassin back in early 2015, after which the space opened for a few months as Gods and Monsters e-cigarette supply store. Then a coat of whitewash blotted out the building’s pretty-new-at-the-time murals, shown in part below:
Filling In On Lower Westheimer
Fungal sculptor Bill Davenport sends this photo of the Giant Mushroom Forest on Studewood south of W. Melwood St., showing the central toadstool freshly decapitated. His explanation for the un-making of his own work: the middle sculpture, originally designed for only a year-long Austin stint back at the turn of the decade, was crumbling and unstable, and had to be demolished last Sunday. “I’m sad to say the other two are not far behind,” he adds.
Davenport is now crowdsourcing funds to put toward restoring the trio and getting them in shape for a longer-term gig. The 3 giant mushrooms (not to be confused with the 3 giant mushrooms that sprung up down the road by Inversion Coffee House a few years ago) currently reside in front of Urban Harvest’s Tiny Mushrooms community garden.
Shrooms and Stones in the Heights
- Houston Housing Home Sales Slightly Slip Year-Over-Year in April, Finds HAR [HBJ]
- Houston Housing Market Proving Resilient Even as Job Growth Slows [Houston Chronicle]
- Sneak Peek at the Houston Oaks Family Sports Retreat in Former Waller County Golf Club [HBJ]
- Slideshow: Inside the Most Expensive Home on the Market in Houston, a $43M Mansion in the Memorial Area [abc13]
- Fort Bend County Named Among Best Places in the Country To Live by SmartAsset [Realty News Report]
- Breaking Down the Houston Botanic Garden-Glenbrook Golf Course Debate [OffCite Blog]
- United Airlines Planning 5 Restaurants in IAH’s New Terminal C North Concourse with Notable Houston Chefs [Culturemap]
- Harold’s Tap Room Opening by May 19 in the Harold’s Complex in the Heights [Houston Chronicle]
- A More Complete Incomplete List of What Was Burning in That Spring Branch Warehouse Fire [abc13; previously on Swamplot]
- Group Threatens To Sue HISD Over Plan to Rename Schools with Confederate Ties [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- More Than 1M People in Texas Are Now Licensed To Carry Handguns [New York Times]
Photo of Lynn Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
