HEIGHTS-AREA RECYCLING CENTER GOING TO THE CLEANERS 
Up for a vote in this morning’s city council meeting: The sale of the First Ward recycling center at 3602 Center St. to the owners of a neighboring property for $2.01 million. Under the agreement, the city would lease back the 1-acre lot near the corner of Washington Ave. and Heights Blvd. for 18 months from Admiral Linen Service — for free. A plan to set up a new area recycling facility on Spring St. was halted 2 years ago. Update, 1:20 pm: Voting on the issue has been postponed until next week. [Houston Politics; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Alexander W.
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Just exports? No imports? These 7 structures leave their shows about nothing:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: REPORT FROM THAT NEIGHBORHOOD SOUTH OF THE RIVER OAKS SHOPPING CENTER THAT NOBODY KNOWS WHAT TO CALL “Who says this is going to be townhouses? This is my neighborhood. While there are certainly plenty of townhouses in the area, the overall trend has moved decidedly toward single family homes. As I type, there are at least a half dozen new single family homes under construction within a few blocks of this site. While this house appears to be quite nice, I’m guessing whatever replaces it will be much nicer. I know it’s standard operating procedure for Swamplotters to hate everything new, but the single family homes (and even the townhouses) being built in this neighborhood are typically quite nice. This demo is more the exception than the rule. Most of what gets torn down around here is garbage.” [Bernard, commenting on Tiny Done-Up Woodhead Cottage Is Townhome Fodder]
This cozy little white-picket-fenced 1,224-sq.-ft. cottage on Woodhead north of Fairview went on the market just as the holiday weekend began. But already “developers are swarming with offers and not even looking at the home and gardens,” a source tells Swamplot. Why bother, when the 1930 home sits on a 5,000-sq.-ft. corner lot along Welch St., just 4 blocks south of the River Oaks Shopping Center? New driveways away! But . . . okay, what would $369,500 would buy here?
Late last week the Museum of Fine Arts Houston announced the names of 3 architecture firms selected as finalists to design the museum’s next expansion project. The new structure will go on the 2-acre parking lot at the northwest-ish corner of Bissonnet and Main. (Yes, that means the era of free MFAH parking is soon to be over.) The finalists are NYC’s Steven Holl Architects (designers of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City), Norwegian firm Snøhetta (designers of the roofwalk-friendly Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo), and LA’s Morphosis, (that’s their design for the Perot Museum of Nature & Science now under construction in Dallas, above). You can presume any possible competitors with some sort of Houston connection were axed from the list during the museum’s year-long series of interviews with 10 “international” design firms.
Memorial Day comes for these 2 structures:
Swamplot is shoving off early for the long weekend. Hope you all have a restful and meaningful Memorial Day holiday, however you choose to commemorate it. We’ll be back in usual form on Tuesday.
Photo of Tex Hex on Buffalo Bayou: Bree Edwards/Mitchell Center for the Arts, UH
It looks like those last-ditch fundraising efforts that might have saved Historic Houston’s Salvage Warehouse from undergoing its own salvage operation weren’t enough. A local auction company will be selling all remaining inventory at the local building-parts-preservation group’s warehouse next week, in what the nonprofit is clearly labeling a “going out of business” sale. Everything at the 1307 W. Clay warehouse will be up for sale: doors, windows, flooring, lumber, plumbing fixtures, tools and equipment for DIY salvagers who’d like to carry on in Historic Houston’s 7-plus-year tradition, office furniture. And yes: Even the organization’s black and white twin Dodge trucks. A page on the website of Worstell Auction Company features photos of many of the vintage goodies, including a screaming “Eisenhower Wins in Landslide” cover from an old Houston Chronicle. (No R-value provided, though. You’ll need to test that out yourself.) Auction date: next Thursday, June 2, at 10 am on the warehouse grounds.
- Historic Houston Salvage Warehouse Auction [Worstell Auction Co.]
- Previously on Swamplot: Can Historic Houston’s Salvage Warehouse Be Salvaged?
Photos: Historic Houston
Down now or soon: These fine specimens of buildinghood.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR MAKES THE ASKING PRICE GO DOWN 
“Who thinks $300,000 is completely unaffordable? Seriously? I won’t be dropping that on this unique piece of history, but that’s a remarkable price for that house. You’ll have to put in another $300,000 to make it livable, but in a city where West U bungalows with 2 bedrooms and one bath go for that much, or a simple 4/2.5 goes for a cool million, that folly is a steal. All it needs is a dedicated, kooky restorer/designer and a ninth fence! From that top platform, you can see enough to pretend you’re in another neighborhood, or even Admiral Boom himself!” [Meg, commenting on Wichita St. Mystery House Goes on the Market Today: Your First Peek Inside]
NEGOTIATING THE FIRST WARD FOR LAWYERS The new owner of Gravitas says the new partnership that recently bought the Taft St. restaurant from chef Scott Tycer plans to open a combination “gourmet sandwich grill, American craft beer garden and bourbon cocktail bar” suitable for “young attorneys and businessmen” at the corner of Houston Ave. and Crockett St.: “The lease on the location is still under negotiation, but [Stephen] Ross says the future design features indoor/outdoor space with garage doors, decks in the front and back, a bocce court and possibly lawn bowling.” [Culturemap]
This sprawling $2.35 million 13-acre estate sits on the left bank of a Dickinson Bayou tributary, across from that little shopping district with the steakhouse and the barber shop and the Dairy Queen. Past the gatekeeper’s cottage, you’ll find this 6-bedroom 2-story stucco home on the site, deep into a landscape of Spanish moss-draped oaks and crape myrtles. The home and its well-paneled interior dates to 1933, though a few of the interior floor coverings look like they might be a bit more recent:
From Tanglewood homes to mobile homes: Simply the best in house-ish hackery.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: A COLOR ANTHEM “You know what? Pink is UNDER rated. I’m not being sarcastic. Its period appropriate. Its Pantone’s color of the year (Honeysuckle). If I had $695K I would ROCK this house AS IS! Except for the carpet in the bathroom. BUT i would replace it with pink rugs FOR SURE! Replace the Hollywood Regency furniture with updated pieces and this place would be badassssssss!!!! Why do people bag on pink so much? Because it takes a super awesome person to pull it off and most people can’t decorate beyond copying the latest Pottery Barn catalog. Pink is bold! Pink is unique! Pink is more than a song from Funny Face or Aerosmith!! Pink for the WIN!” [brilliant.girl, commenting on 1956 Ranch from Del Monte Says Yes to Pink]
“What’s that photo — a coffin?” Ladies and gentlemen, if you’ve got a casket problem in your neighborhood, you know now that reporting it to Swamplot will get you results. Yes, just minutes after Swamplot posted photos of the mysterious burial chamber that a reader found tanning itself on the grounds of the College Memorial Park Cemetery on West Dallas St., intrepid KHOU 11 News reporter Courtney Zubowski was live on the scene, ready to investigate. Of course, if you’re with a TV news team it certainly helps to have someone else — with maybe some eye protection — on hand to do any heavy, uh, coffin prying that might be necessary. (That’s KHOU photographer Gregg Ramirez hard on the case in Zubowski’s photo, above). You know, just in case something pops up unexpectedly.
