Headlines
04/02/14 8:30am

Room To Grow in Riverstone; A $1.25 Million Humperlow for Merrill St.

by
6 Comments

Wildlife Sanctuary by Dan Havel, Heights Blvd. at 5th St., Houston Heights

Photo of Wildlife Sanctuary sculpture on Heights Blvd. by Dan Havel, part of “True North”: The Heights Life

Headlines
Art
04/01/14 5:15pm

Menil Collection Taking Bill Stern’s Art, but Trying To Sell His Museum District House for $1.475 Million

by
16 Comments

1202 Milford St., Museum District, Houston

1202 Milford St., Museum District, Houston

The few interior photos included in the listing of William F. Stern’s house at the corner of Milford and Mt. Vernon show the 1990 structure stripped of most of its furnishings — but with much of its famed artwork still on the walls. Are those paintings museum-quality, though? Certifiably, it turns out: Stern, who passed away a year ago from pancreatic cancer, willed the house and its artwork to the Menil Collection. The Menil is accepting all the art into its collection, but put the house on the market last month — with an asking price of $1.475 million.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Paintings Without a Home
, , , , , , ,
Featured Posts
04/01/14 3:30pm

A West U Lot-Filler Under Glass

by
17 Comments

4145-cason-02

4145-cason-10

4145-cason-01

Rather than choose between more yard and more house, a 1991 custom home in West University appears to have simply put everything but the front lawn under roof, including a free-range atrium vignette in the living room (top) and a garden patio (above middle). The home was relisted by the same agent last Friday and has an asking price of $1.249 million. The previous listing, at the end of February, lasted a month and was aiming for $1.399 million.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

The Grated Indoors
, , , , ,
Attractions
04/01/14 12:30pm

How a Botanical Garden Would Fit on the Gus Wortham Golf Course and Other Tidbits from Last Night’s Hullabaloo

by
86 Comments

Public Forum on Gus Wortham Golf Course, E.B. Cape Center, 4501 Leeland St., Houston

A reader sends in a report from the “spirited debate” at Monday night’s public forum at the E.B. Cape Center on Leeland St., covering proposed plans to convert the Gus Wortham Golf Course at Wayside Dr. and Lawndale St. in Houston’s East End, just north of Idylwood, into a new botanical garden: “Councilman Robert Gallegos, Mayor Parker, and many other politicians were there, as well as a standing room only crowd of those for the botanical garden (wielding the provided flowers), and for saving the golf course (fanning themselves with provided Gus Wortham fans). The crowd was encouraged to be quiet to keep things running smoothly, but this didn’t always happen, as many folks were pretty passionate about their opinions. Those wanting to save the golf course had at least double the presence of the garden folks, and were admittedly louder as things went on.”

Our correspondent, who claims to support renovating the existing golf course and putting a botanical garden elsewhere, notes that an earlier proposal in which the 150-acre site just west of Brays Bayou would have been shared by a 9-hole golf course and a new garden in the northern half has been scrapped. Houston Botanic Garden president Jeff Ross showed the latest “rough draft” of the proposed garden plan. Here’s a screen-shot photo:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Tee’d Off
, , , , , , , , ,
Brookesmith
04/01/14 10:30am

How Do You Get on HCAD’s ‘Cheap’ List?

by
36 Comments

HCAD Econ Misimprovement ClassificationA reader whose new property tax assessment is feeling pressure from all the construction nearby in Brooke Smith writes in with questions about HCAD’s “economic misimprovement” classification. That’s the label HCAD often applies to older houses in neighborhoods where similar structures are being torn down and replaced with new construction. (It’s “an adjustment to the dwelling to limit the remaining building value as the land value increases.”) Writes the homeowner: “I was wondering if my fellow co-readers would have any information about filing your home as an economic misimprovement and how to do so with HCAD. Also, are there any disadvantages of doing so?”

Some background: “I bought my home in 2012; my property taxes from 2011–2012 increased by 40 percent. I prepared a thorough protest, but the ARB essentially denied my protest by comparing my home to the new homes/heavily remodeled homes in the neighborhood.”

More:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Exceptions Misimprove the Rule
, , ,
Headlines
04/01/14 8:30am

Macy’s Galleria Undoubling; Deep Space Nine for the Astrodome

by
2 Comments

train tracks englewood

Photo of Englewood Yard, Liberty Rd.: David Elizondo via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
Comments
03/31/14 4:00pm

Comment of the Day: Getting Rid of Wastefulness

by
13 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: GETTING RID OF WASTEFULNESS Trashing Old Building Materials“It amazes me that we’ve become so rich as a society that we can collectively afford to have fashions of home improvements that will go in and out of style (although remain perfectly functional) the same way clothes do. The funniest to me is when you see on one of these HGTV shows someone espousing all the right ‘green’ mantras, but the first thing they do when they get the house it tear out all the perfectly functioning appliances, cabinets, counters and carpet…etc to be thrown in a dumpster. All the while feeling smug about how sustainable the place is because they are putting in bamboo flooring . . .” [longcat, commenting on Comment of the Day: Your ‘Updates’ Are Dating You] Illustration: Lulu

, , ,
Featured Posts
03/31/14 1:30pm

Crawfish Restaurant Boil House Gets Ready To Open on 11th St. in the Heights

by
12 Comments

Boil House Restaurant Under Construction, 606 E. 11th St., Houston Heights

Here’s a pic of the latest sign of the growing Heights-area crawfish swarm: The just-painted front of the former audio repair shop at 606 E. 11th St., just east of Oxford, showing the new home of Boil House. “A hot pinch of authentic Louisiana flavor” is offered in the wall sign just behind the spray-painted trashcan above, and the mudbugs are implied in the name of the company behind the venture: Boil House Crawfish, LLC. But don’t confuse this under-the-radar venture with the other crawfish restaurant setting up camp in nearby Shady Acres. Cajun spot The Boot just opened (on weekends only for now, it appears) in the former Shady Tavern spot at 1206 W. 20th St., between Bevis and Beall.

Photo: T.S. Noble

Cajun Heights
, , , ,
Adaptive Reuse
03/31/14 12:30pm

Aloft Hotel Will Alight in Stowers Building Downtown

by
6 Comments

Stowers Building, 820 Fannin St., Downtown Houston

A website entry noted by eagle-eyed HAIF commenter Urbannizer indicates that Starwood Hotels and Resorts plans to convert the Stowers Building on the corner of Fannin and Walker downtown (pictured above) into an Aloft Hotel. Aloft Houston Downtown will open at 820 Fannin St. in June 2016, according to the company’s listing of upcoming Starwood properties. The 10-story former headquarters of the G.A. Stowers Furniture Company was built in 1913 and renovated for office condos in 2005 by Spire Realty. It’s the only building left on the block now dominated by the BG Group Place tower fronting Main St.— the previously neighboring buildings were torn down in 2008.

Photo: Mike Bloom Jr.

Starwood on Fannin
, , , ,
Featured Posts
03/31/14 10:30am

The White Oak Bayou Hike and Bike Trail Is Open Again in Oak Forest

by
3 Comments

White Oak Bayou Hike and Bike Trail Along T.C. Jester at 610 Loop, Oak Forest, Houston

Here’s the news that’s “all the rage in Oak Forest,” according to a reader: TxDOT has reopened the segment of the hike-and-bike trail along White Oak Bayou that wends its way between between Ella Blvd. and 34th St. That stretch of asphalt had been closed in December 2011 for construction on the North Loop overpass at T.C. Jester. TxDOT is planning an official celebration of the reopening this coming Saturday, but it’s unclear whether the path, which lines the east side of the bayou, will have to be closed again at some point. “Please note that TxDOT has not completed the reconstruction of the bridges that support the feeder roads across the bayou,” reads a note on the Houston Bikeways Program Facebook page posted this morning. “We hope to get more details shortly.”

Photo of trail at E. T.C. Jester and Loop 610 North: Jim Mackey/White Oak Bayou Association

610 Underpass
, , , , ,
Headlines
03/31/14 8:30am

Brookfield’s Art Initiative; The 10-Foot-Tall Honeycomb in a Spring Garage

by
2 Comments

vintage signs from 357 Yale Street

Photo of signs removed from 357 Yale St.: Molly Block via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
« Previous Page Next Page »