01/27/09 10:56am

The firm of British architect David Chipperfield has been selected to design a master plan for the expansion of the Menil Collection campus. What’s to be added?

Those facilities include the Menil Drawing Institute and Study Center, an auditorium, a café, additional space for Menil archives and buildings devoted to the work of individual artists.

The Menil Foundation is also interested in developing “income-producing properties” along the coming Richmond rail line, reports Douglas Britt in the Houston Chronicle.

Fitting in so many new buildings, of course, will be a lot easier once the Menil decides which of its many neighboring properties it wants to knock down. And owning 30 acres in the area means there are plenty of possibilities!

Which will go first? The gray-washed arts bungalows? The small rental properties? Richmond Hall? Richmont Square?

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01/22/09 4:19pm

To counter the all-shutterings edition of Openings and Closings posted on Swamplot earlier this week, here’s a mostly debuts version:

  • Opening: With the opening of Bryan Caswell’s Little Big’s, Montrose’s late-night restaurant row is complete — at least on weekends, when the burger shack will be open until 3 a.m. Writes Katharine Shilcutt in Eating Our Words:

    In addition to sliders, fries and shakes, Little Big’s also offers wine and beer at extremely reasonable prices, which will all but ensure their popularity. Once the large, welcoming patio is completed, it’s a sure bet that this will be the new hot spot in Montrose.

    This Little Big’s is in the former Ming’s Cafe on Montrose just north of Westheimer; the next one will be in Hermann Park.

There’s more!

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01/14/09 7:04pm

BIG TIME FOR THE BIG TOP: MIDTOWN ISLAND DISC At last, that little island of happening in Midtown has its very own song! “I Found My Weakness in You” was penned by Nick Gaitan, who lives above the Continental Club at 3700-3718 Main — and recorded by his employer, Billy Joe Shaver. Fellow “Island” resident Chris Gray sets the scene: “With surroundings like the 59 spur, Holy Rosary Catholic Church, a row of appointment-only antique stores and reams of vacant property — both lots and buildings — it can feel pretty isolated. An average Sunday night around 8 p.m., say, is as lonely as the desert in a John Ford flick (only with more trees). The streets are empty, save the strays making their way to and from the halfway house around the corner or the quick-marts at Fannin and Alabama for lottery tickets and 24-ounce cans of Bud or Olde English. It ain’t the Midtown you may have read about in glossy advertorial mags that tout valet parking and ridiculously overpriced cocktails, that’s for sure.” [Houston Press; hear the song here]

11/21/08 9:17am

First came Katz’s, then Biba’s One’s a Meal. Now Alison Cook maps the coming convergence of 24-hour restaurants in the heart of Montrose:

In December, a critical mass of late-night eateries will coalesce near the storied Houston intersection of Montrose and Westheimer. The debut of Little Big’s, a new slider shack from the guys at Reef, firmly establishes the crossroads as the go-to address for clubgoers, nightcrawlers and late-shift service personnel in search of something to eat.

Little Big’s, construction of which is underway at 2703 Montrose–the former Ming’s Cafe–looks straight across the street at BB’s Kitchen, the terrific little po’ boy and breakfast place that stays open until 2:30 am Thursday, 4 am Friday and Saturday. It’s my favorite late-night spot in town.

Cook also notes a second Little Big’s location will open in Hermann Park this spring.

Photos of Little Big’s, under construction at the former Ming’s Cafe, 2703 Montrose Blvd.: Alison Cook

11/18/08 12:57pm

Just scrub away all that glitzy makeup and the former location of shuttered Rouge restaurant — at 812 Westheimer just a block east of Montrose — works fine as the new home of Biba’s One’s a Meal, says Alison Cook:

. . . the Biba’s folks got busy, banished the wine-dark swank, whitewashed the place and covered Rouge’s tables with blue-and-white checked plastic. Add a flotilla of Aegean photo murals, put on the sound track from Zorba (I am not making this up) and you’re good to go Greek. Or American, as the Biba’s menu and sign helpfully remind us, referring to the breakfast and burger fare that has seen many a local wastrel through the dark hours before the dawn, when a souvlaki or moussaka just don’t seem quite right.

Eighty-six the Beef Wellington with Mushroom pâté, bring on the chili cheeseburger with fries: The fates of restaurants make great economy-size metaphors, no?

I particularly enjoyed the way the formerly snazzy bar area is now filled with dinette furniture, as if the dining room redo–with its pretty wooden chairs and gleaming wine wall–just ran out of gas. What made it even better: a long table running the length of the room was filled with men of a certain age having a long, late lunch that looked right out of the old country.

Photos: Alison Cook

11/06/08 8:48pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 31: Living Room

Your votes are in! And the winners weren’t: Eastwood (with 3 guesses), Woodland Heights, the Heights (2 guesses), Winlow Place, West University, Midtown, south Midtown, between Midtown and the Third Ward, around Elgin and 288, Montrose (3 guesses), Temple Terrace, “close to University of St. Thomas and the Menil,” Tanglewood, Southmore area, Riverside Terrace, Audubon Place (3 guesses), Sixth Ward near Houston Ave., the near Northside (2 guesses), Binz, Eastside, Avondale, Timbergrove, San Felipe/Briar Hollow, Mandell Place, Lawndale, or Lindale Park.

The correct answer was . . . the Westmoreland Historic District. Congratulations to reader tcpIV, who figured it out!

Four honorable mentions this week! The first goes to MariaO, who didn’t seem to make any mistakes . . . until she climbed too high:

Feels like a Montrose duplex to me, built in the 1930s but (mostly) renovated in the early 80s. I remember my grandma having that mediallion tile pattern from the second bathroom in her kitchen around that era.

Could be the north end of Montrose close to Allen Parkway — I’ll go out on a limb and say Temple Terrace.

The next goes to Cathy, who wasn’t too far away either:

1920’s or 30’s: tall ceilings and plenty of pre-AC windows. The kitchen could be an add-on — no original windows — but the door to the pantry makes you think it is in the original location. And I’d guess that the 2nd bathroom is new, or was new in the 70’s.

How many neighborhoods did Houston have in the 30’s? I’ll guess Avondale.

Also JT:

This has the earmarks of a home built around 1928-1935. Lots of remodelling evident from the 1970s kitchen to the garish Spanishesque floor tile in bath number two. The front door looks to be less than ten years old.
Judging from the size of the rooms and footprint, this seems too large for the standard 50′ lot in much of the Heights.
My guess is Mandell Place in Montrose.

Oh, and karen too:

I agree with JT about the timeframe for this house. It’s not quite bungalow style, and the interior fireplace puts it later in the 20th century….high ceilings, too. And it’s built on a pretty high crawl space foundation – see how the fence looks low from the windows! But the narrow moldings say late ’20s or early ’30s to me. Later ’30s had much smaller rooms.

I think it’s weird that the butler’s pantry has a space heater while the kitchen has forced air. What’s that about?

The last time anyone spent any serious money on this house was in the 80s or early 90s when they put in new kitchen cabinets. So this is likely in a neighborhood that’s seen some tear down pressure in the last decade or so, making many of the above guesses reasonable. On the other hand, the place is in good shape, telling me that the sellers aren’t sure if it’s a teardown or a remodel. Perhaps the previous owners simply lived on a budget and couldn’t afford the excesses of the ’90s and ’00s.

There was more than met the eye with this one:

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11/03/08 12:23pm

Mobile Above Stairwell at 503 Fargo St., Houston

This dramatically hung mobile above the entry and stairwell of the house for sale at 503 Fargo St. in Montrose certainly captures your attention!

But that’s not why reader Kelley Owen alerted Swamplot to the listing. She noticed some artwork hung much lower on the wall in the Master Bedroom . . . and calls it “possibly NSFW.”

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10/13/08 1:12pm

Style Possibilities for Proposed InnerLoopCondos.com Condo Development on West Alabama St., Houston

Remember back in July, when the folks from InnerLoopCondos.com sent out a survey about a new development proposed for 819 W. Alabama — the former site of Bistro Vino — and wanted you to help them choose which of six funny costumes the new condo building should wear? The company is now saying it’ll likely build 6 to 8 stories on top of at least 3 parking-garage levels, producing 80 condos priced from $190,000 to $400,000.

Best of all, InnerLoopCondos.com — a subsidiary of Montreal’s Group LSR — plans to break ground . . . in maybe only 18 short months!

What the thing will look like, though . . . is still up to you! “We’re very sensitive to what people are saying on the survey,” InnerLoopCondos.com’s Andre Julien tells the Chronicle‘s Betty Martin. So how are the votes tallying?

The company won’t start planning until the survey had received about 50 responses, the minimum needed to gauge what prospective condo buyers want, Julien said.

What? Fewer than 50 votes!???

Readers, the ballot box is still open. You have six colorful theming choices. Do you need to hear that lecture again about how important your vote is?

Images: InnerLoopCondos.com

10/13/08 10:44am

MONTROSE WILDLIFE Poet Mark Doty, while explaining Houston to the Travel set: “Here the city’s splendid tradition of patronage is on its best display, so the great old live oaks thrust their bowing branches out beside the Cy Twombly Gallery and the Rothko Chapel. The limbs dip perilously toward the ground, and the roots heave the sidewalks beneath them into little concrete alps, but since nobody walks anywhere it doesn’t make much difference. In summer the trees resound with cicadas, like electronic versions of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir chorusing an insanely repetitive song. Gangs of bronzy black birds—boat-tailed grackles—prefer smaller trees in busier areas; they like grocery store parking lots and the drive-through lanes at the Taco Cabana, and they shriek and holler long into the night, as if in avian parallel to the traffic below. They’re the loudest part of a plethora of urban wildlife: opossums, raccoons, the occasional snake slithering across the road, a sadly large population of stray dogs. Coyotes roam the cemetery north of Buffalo Bayou, where Howard Hughes is buried. All over town, tiny green lizards hold their heads up with notable alertness.” [Smithsonian, via HAIF]

10/10/08 11:33pm

The northerly stretches of Boulevard Oaks, where the call of the Southwest Freeway is clear and constant! Four lovely homes await your visit:

1336 Vassar St., Vassar Place, Boulevard Oaks, Houston

Location: 1336 Vassar St.
Details: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths; 2,398 sq. ft.
Price: $749,000
The Scoop: Recently remodeled 1935 bungalow in Vassar Place, with arched doorways, plantation shutters, mustard and seagrass interiors. Kitchen has built-in desk, Breakfast Nook, arched faux-finish vent hood. Ceiling-mounted sound system in both bathrooms. On the market for 3 months already.
Open House: Sunday, 2-4 pm

More this way:

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09/25/08 9:26pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 25: Kitchen

Where is this week’s mystery pad? Three of you guessed the Heights. Eastwood and Montrose got 2 votes each. Other guesses: Woodland Heights, Braes Heights, Riverside Terrace, “Wahtever that area is called bordered by West Gray/Shepherd.Westheimer and Commonwealth. Behind Hugo’s and around Mockingbird Bistro,” Southampton, Southgate, Cherryhurst, Castle Court, West University, and Spring Branch.

First out of the gate was Miz Brooke Smith, who called:

Montrose. A single-family home or maybe a converted upstairs-downstairs duplex, with bathrooms updated in the ’80s. The big-plant curtains betray the ’80s, and the sun porch off the master bedroom is the Montrose giveaway.

And what about the checkerboard tile Kitchen floor? Is that even legal in any other part of town? Another player might have trumped Miz B. S. by mentioning Mandell Place, but Montrose is good enough to win it. Congratulations!

A special commendation goes to this week’s secret agent, David W, who was one of two readers to write in with the actual answer, but followed up with this distracting “guess”:

From the windows and sunroom off the master I would say it was built in the 30’s. From the black and white kitchen floor, glossy cabinets, and white Sub-Zero I would say remodeled (and not inexpensively) in the eighties. Could be Montrose but I am going to guess Riverside Terrace probably on the South side of the bayou since the updates aren’t more recent.

The home’s actual details?

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09/18/08 4:37pm

Pita Pit, 3303 C Highway 6, Sugar Land, Texas

Sandwich franchise Pita Pit has a store tucked inside a Greenway Plaza office building. Two more locations debuted recently: one at Highway 6 and Williams Trace in Sugar Land (opened in May) and another in the tunnel beneath McKinney St. Downtown (opened in July). A new store in a strip center at Westheimer and Fountainview is listed as “coming soon” on the company website.

Now a source reports that a total of 10 Pita Pit franchises are planned for the Houston area — including one in the shopping center at 3939 Montrose Blvd., just north of the Hurricane-Ike-swept Diedrich’s Coffee, near Marble Slab.

Photo of Sugar Land Pita Pit: Pita Pit

09/08/08 11:23am

Mirabeau B. Sales Center, 2410 Waugh, Hyde Park, Montrose, Houston

The new sales center for the Mirabeau B. is looking pre-fab! Now at the northwest corner of Hyde Park and Waugh: two 20-ft. recycled shipping containers, outfitted with a solar array on a digitally fabricated rack. The website for Metalab, the architecture firm in charge of the project, claims the solar panels will generate 180 kilowatt hours per month. What’s that figure converted to condo sales?

Oh, but selling condos is apparently only this structure’s day job for now:

Solar panels on the roof can fold shut at night or during bad weather, said Andrew Vrana from Metalab.

“We would like to further develop this as a solution,” he said. “People could have one of these made and put in their backyard and supplement their energy with solar power.”

Below: more pics!

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