The Stone Age mashes with Mid-Century Modern in Friendswood, where an updated 1961 stunner designed by architect M. Bliss Alexander accents its crisp and clean lines with 12 tons of rock from Wimberly. Listed a week ago with a $1.19 million asking price, the home last sold in 2007, for $585K. It sits on 1.3 acres in the Perry Grove neighborhood, located southwest of Friendswood Dr. and W. Spreading Oaks Ave.
Over in Woodshire, a fifties-vintage neighborhood hugging the South Loop west of Stella Link Rd., a recently renovated 1956 mod returned to the market earlier this month. Its distinctive airplane-wing roof slants nearly to the ground above a brick exterior that’s now been whitewashed. Inside, a few structural changes have opened up the living space, removed a series of exposed ceiling beams, and restored a studio floating above the double-wide driveway. The home last sold in May 2013 — for $240K. After its overhaul and repositioning by P&G Homes — in collaboration with LynnGoode Vintage and Jamie House Design — the flip-ready property now carries a $775,500 asking price. What does the half-million upgrade get you?
Apart from the snazzy red cars parked by the home’s courtyard entry, a flat-topped 1963 Hilshire Village property keeps a low profile beneath the canopy of mature trees on its large lot, which is located in the Burkhardt Plaza neighborhood west of Wirt Rd. and just north of the Christ Evangelical Presbyterian Church on the eastbound I-10 feeder road. Updated in 2009, the midcentury modern with the not-so-modern decor landed on the market a week ago, asking $1.1 million. By the weekend, though, the price had dropped to $997,500.
Like sharpened cuspids, a 4-pack of aligned and angled columns screens the entry of a 1960 modern home in Meyerland. Could a toothy grill off the circular driveway have been the intent of the long-term owner, a dentist? The home’s initial design is attributed to H. Oberdieck in architectural chatter about the property and its records. Listed earlier this month, the home’s asking price is $899,000.
Fans of parquet flooring will note a similar squarish pattern covers the ceilings (top) of this 1958 mod in Seabrook’s El Lago Estates. The property’s listing, which debuted in March, suggests building a second home on the big, park-like lot near Taylor Lake. A water view, though, means traipsing down the meandering roadway to peek through neighbors’ fences. Woodsy vistas, however, are available from almost every room in the home . . .
Berry Bayou’s banks lie behind an aqua-tipped and aqua-tinted 1962 mod in Meadowcreek Village. The ravine lot property popped up on the market today, with a $99,900 asking price. Many of the home’s original details are intact:
Almost matching wings of a deep set 1960 “rancho deluxe” mod extend across the front of a wedge lot formed by the street curling off Forest Oaks Dr. in Meadowcreek Village. When listed last week, the asking price was $215,000 for the property — believed to have been custom built back in the day for the owner of Moore Paper Co. It’s still a swank spread offering many period details — and a few curiosities . . .
Restoration has been swift at this concrete-block home in Garden Oaks that sold quickly in June 2013 — for $225,000. When the property reappeared on the market as a new listing late last week, the asking price was up to $475,000. Houston architect Allen R. Williams Jr. designed the solidly built home back in the day, the year of which was either 1950 or 1942, depending on which records apply. This year’s updates, by serial renovator Will Martin, hew close to the home’s mod origins. The original listing didn’t feature many interior photos, but the home’s latest appearance makes up for that:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WE KILL THE MODS, WE KILL THE MODS, WE KILL WE KILL WE KILL THE MODS 
“What’s the hottest trend to come? What will every city in the US and entire world be embracing? What will become showplaces and showcases? What’s the hottest trend in architecture?
Why Mid-Century Modern!
What is Houston tripping all over itself to tear down every last trace of?
You got it.” [Darogr, commenting on Delmar-lition: HISD To Slam Old Swooping Hoops Stadium] Illustration: Lulu
To see the Mods of the Month this time, you’ll have to head out to Lake Jackson. One of the 3 featured homes has already gone Option Pending, but this one, a few miles off the Nolan Ryan Expressway at 530 Circle Way St., is still available at $179,900. Designed by Houston architect Allen R. Williams, who began his career working with John Staub, the 1954 3-bedroom, 2-bath mod sits on a creek-edged property near the Lake Jackson Intermediate School.
This 1955 1-story home was first listed in July at $379,900. Just south of Beechnut and west of S. Rice Ave. in Meyerland, the 2,359-sq.-ft., 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1-garage mod was priced down this month to $350,000. This exterior shot shows the home sitting back on a relatively expansive 11,067-sq.-ft. lot, but the listing also reveals something else, described as an “extra room” that’s downright subterranean.
This 3-bedroom mod and its carport on Cayton St. in Glenbrook Valley was designed by A. Carroll Brodnax and featured in the 1957 Parade of Homes. The few photos included in this new listing show the mid-century home in need of a bit of present-day attention — but the asking price is only $69,999.
This 1966 Tanglewood mod has changed so much it might as well be a new listing: A redesign from Austin architect Tom Hurt has almost doubled the square footage, adding to the original flat roof some shapely contemporary juts that give the place an entire second story. Showcased by Houston Mod just this past Sunday as a Mod of the Month, the Riverview Dr. redo went on the market this week at $1,895,000.
Last week, owners Cheryl and David Bowman of 7919 Glenview Dr. were given a Good Brick Award from Preservation Houston for their renovation of this 1954 mod — one of the original 6, says Cheryl Bowman, built in Glenbrook Valley. Purchased in March 2011, the 2-bedroom, 1,834-sq.-ft. home, shown here from the backyard, wasn’t always such a pretty picture . . .
