Tag: Meyerland

Flooding, Houston History, Meyerland, Price Trends, Quicklink

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS: KINDA LIKE FLOODING IN MEYERLAND A rising tide sinks all prices! “When Dr. Mahmoud Amin El-Gamal, chairman of the Rice economics department, is asked â€” as he has often been in recent days â€” ‘Whatâ€™s is going on with our financial institutions?’ he likes to begin his answer with an analogy of local origin. ‘Itâ€™s a lot like in the 1980s when the flooding in Meyerland caused the price of all the houses in the area to go down,’ he said, ‘even those houses that did not flood.’ El-Gamal said the same can be said of mortgage securities, many of which were ‘perfectly fine,’ but had been grouped with debts that would likely continue to go unpaid.” [West University Examiner]

77096, Financing, Flooding, Houston History, Meyerland, Price Trends

Disaster Aftermath

09/26/08 6:23pm

Seen on the Street: Convoy

Meyerland, Montrose, North Montrose

Tree Truck Convoy, Houston, after Hurricane Ike

Fun pix from around town: Part of a convoy of about 40 tree trucks headed down the Eastex Freeway last weekend, looking for a little bit of work.

More photos:

77006, 77096, Disaster Aftermath, Freeways and Toll Roads, Hurricane Ike, Meyerland, Montrose, North Montrose

Homes for Sale

04/23/08 10:18pm

The House That Time and Architect Forgot

Houston Architects, Meyerland

1 Comment

4815 Braesvalley Dr., Meyerland, Houston

This 4-bedroom, 2,800-plus-square-foot 1956 Modern home for sale on Braesvalley was designed by Houston architect Lars Bang.

Or was it? A few days after the home was featured as a Houston Mod “Mod of the Month” last October, Realtor Meg Zoller described her attempts to identify the designer in her blog:

A week or so ago we had Lars Bang come by the Braesvalley home in an attempt to authenticate the fact that he built it. Lars Bang must be in his 80â€™s or so. He had a friend of his drive him to see the home. He has a very outgoing personality and it was believed that he was excited about the possibility of it being one of his homes. My husband, Jim, helped him out of the car and invited him into the house, but Mr. Bangâ€™s knees arenâ€™t what they used to be . . .and he just wanted to stand out front and look at the house. After some time he decided that he could not confidently say whether the home was one of his designs or not.

The owner was so disappointed when she heard the news. She really wanted it to be one of his designs.

After the jump: the actual architect of this uh, memorable Meyerland home!

77096, Homes for Sale, Houston Architects, Meyerland, Modern Design, Price Reductions

Homes for Sale

02/29/08 11:48pm

Weekend Open House Tour: Meyerland Mods

Meyerland, New Construction: Residential, Open Houses

This time: Low-slung, low-lying, midpriced Midcentury Modern homes in Meyerland!

5015 Heatherglen Dr., Meyerland, Houston

Location: 5015 Heatherglen Dr.
Details: 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,633 sq. ft.
Price: $448,750
The Scoop: Restored 1959 ranch-ish contemporary designed by architect William Wortham with terrazzo floors, walnut paneling, and unique brickwork. Decked out in retro furniture. Listed six weeks ago; price just chopped by $10K.
Open House: Sunday, 2-4 pm

The tour continues this way . . .

77096, Homes for Sale, Meyerland, Modern Design, Open Houses, Tours

Demolitions

01/09/08 11:51am

Wrecking Ball Meets the Carousel House: Building Well Is the Best Revenge

Meyerland

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfS9gffQoxY 400 330]

What’s that slow, steady thump booming from the corner of Moonlight Dr. and Braesheather in Meyerland?

Why, it’s the sound of a crudely improvised “wrecking ball” fashioned by a frustrated excavator operator, trying to smash the extremely strong foundation of the Carousel House! The foundation refused to break using more conventional techniques.

The Swamplot reader who sent in the video above, taken yesterday, calls it Robert Cohen’s revenge. Cohen designed and built the house for his family in 1964. There are more than 100 piers under that slab. The reader reports that the demolition equipment has apparently broken several times and had to be welded on site or replaced more than once. And so the shovel picks up the “ball,” drops it, then scoops it up again. Demolition is proceeding, uh . . . slowly.

The Difficult Demolition of 9602 Moonlight [YouTube]
From Mod Pad to Mold Pit in Four Years: The Sorry Saga of the Carousel House [Swamplot]
Carousel House Demo: Mold Wants To Be Free [Swamplot]

77096, Demolitions, Meyerland, Modern Design, Videos

Foreclosures

11/30/07 5:32pm

Meyerland Mystery Mod: House of Formica and Foreclosure

Home Design, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Meyerland

5103 S. Braeswood in Meyerland, Houston

Midcentury Modern Meyerland home with a distinctively shaped Living Room. In uncertain condition, on a large corner lot.

Sound familiar?

With the Carousel House reduced to rubble, Mod fans on HAIF have turned their attention to this 3,352-square-foot home from 1964 on a third-of-an-acre site at the corner of South Braeswood and S. Rice. It’s a foreclosure, and went on the market earlier this week:

I went and saw this house yesterday, and it has some amazing features. I think it’s likely that it is the House of Formica, for every surface–walls, cabinets, bars, etc.–is covered in Formica. I don’t think there’s is a drop of paint anywhere.

But . . .

the house is also really odd. I like strange, and this one is strange without being cool. Some of the design features just aren’t right. Therefore, it’s possible that we’re heading for another Moonlight. I hope not, but I doubt the house will go for anything above lot value.

After the jump, photos of some of those just-not-right design features — available free with land purchase! Plus special bonus: it’s really close to the bayou.

77096, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Meyerland, Modern Design

Demolitions

11/19/07 8:09am

Carousel House Demo: Mold Wants To Be Free

Historic Preservation, Meyerland, Mold, Toxic Sites

Carousel House at 9602 Moonlight Dr., Houston

As if on cue, the Carousel House received a demolition permit Friday. (See 9602 Moonlight Dr. in today’s Daily Demolition Report, below.) As of this morning, the Meyerland mod is still intact — well, at least you’ll be able to see its silhouette through the fog.

Who wants to keep all those mold spores cooped up in a dingy old home, anyway — when really, they could be doing so much more for this city? Set them free!

From Mod Pad to Mold Pit in Four Years: The Sorry Saga of the Carousel House [Swamplot]

Photo: Ben Hill

77096, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Meyerland, Modern Design, Mold, Toxic Sites

Buying and Selling

11/14/07 4:04pm

From Mod Pad to Mold Pit in Four Years: The Sorry Saga of the Carousel House

Demolitions, Fraud, Historic Preservation, Home Design, Homebuilders, Meyerland, Mold, New Construction: Residential, Toxic Sites

9602 Moonlight Dr., Meyerland, Houston

One detail glossed over delicately in Lisa Gray’s colorful tale of the decline of Meyerland’s Carousel House, featured in today’s Chronicle: The abandoned home’s apparent awful stench. From a few would-be visitors, posting on HAIF:

The owner told me that everyone he’s taken in there has gotten sick soon after coming out. Apparently it is REALLY nasty in there. I may swing by and get some new filters for my mask.

and

i could smell “the smell” just standing in the driveway

But hey, the interior shots from just a few short years ago make the house look super fab! Built in 1964 by owner Robert Cohen, the Modern gem merited a Texas magazine feature story in 2003. Just four years, one ultra-rich attorney, one shady personal assistant, countless hookers, umpteen heroin hazes, and a couple of dozen missing exotic cars later, the house on the corner of Moonlight Dr. and Braesheather appears headed for an almost-certain but certainly difficult demolition. (15,000 pounds of steel, anyone?)

After the jump, highlights of the home from its heyday, excerpts from the sordid and fetid tale of its fall from Modern grace, and a photo of the far more up-to-date carousel that just might be built in its place!