Yes, the shots above are front-yard views of the exact same house on Kimberley Lane in Memorial Hollow, before (at top) and after a thoroughly de-Modernizing revamp completed earlier this year. Just about every sixties-era feature of the original home has been scrapped and “corrected” with — well, something else. The ask for this brilliant flip: a $224K premium over the sales price of the home from December of last year. You are so welcome:
The YMCA of Greater Houston is considering several options for the 1.3-acre piece of land off Waugh Dr. that until last week held the vacant Masterson Branch of the YWCA, according to a communications document forwarded to Swamplot. Among the possibilities for the property at 3615 Willia St., which sits on a bluff above Spotts Park and overlooks White Oak Bayou: building a new YMCA facility, collaborating with the city and area nonprofits to develop “recreational opportunities” on the site, partnering with a developer on an unspecified project, or selling it outright. If the organization is considering selling the property, why did it decide to tear down the 1982 building, designed by Houston’s Taft Architects?
Good news for those of you who enjoy the athletic side of demolition: At the moment, crews from Cherry Demolition are hard at work taking apart not just the Downtown Y, but this iconic vacant Y on Willia St. off Waugh Dr. as well, just north of Spotts Park. It’s the former Masterson Branch YWCA, designed by Houston’s own Taft Architects in a blaze of postmodern glory back in 1979, opened in 1982, but left to collect mold spores since its closing in 2005. The property was purchased a few years ago by the Greater Houston YMCA, with plans to open a new Wortham YMCA on that location.
Swamplot reader Jason Ezer was on the spot yesterday and captured these views of the formal decommissioning ceremonies:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU’LL GET YOURS, YOU OLD DEMO-HAPPY POSTMODERNISTS! “What a waste of asbestos abatement. More deep seeded envy of MCM by the prevalence of the baby boomer Post Modernists. When my generation comes to power we will be sure to demo the Williams Tower or the Pennzoil Place just to spite them while they raise their fists at the clouds in their beige geriatric care centers.” [Unemployed Architect, commenting on Old Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel To Be Torn Down for the Views and Parking Spots]
