07/10/18 3:30pm

Surf’s up at El Segundo Swim Club, the Second Ward swimming pool bar that’s now soaking up the sun on the formerly vacant lot at 5180 Avenue L, north of Navigation Blvd. The watering hole has been inviting swimmers in to take a dip over the past few days through a series of ticketed preview events that are planned to continue through this weekend.

Shade comes courtesy of the bright orange umbrellas now surrounding the pool deck — in place of the folded-up, gray ones shown above during the site’s transition phase back in February. A few modified shipping containers give visitors room to get out of the sun, too — except for the one on the left in the photo at top; it houses the bar.

The 15,000-sq.-ft. lot didn’t have much flora before the redo, but that’s changed thanks to these transplants:

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Wet Bar
02/10/17 2:45pm

Former City of Houston Code Enforcement Building, 3300 Main St., Midtown, Houston, 77002

Those Swamplot commenters who’ve been taking particular and unabashed pleasure in the long, slow demise of the former city code enforcement office at 3300 Main St. may also enjoy the shot above of the flooded pit spotted recently where the Mod office building once stood. Reader Diaspora (who sent in the photo late last week) suggests the site as potential competition for the folks behind the Houston Needs a Swimming Hole campaign, which Kickstartered a feasibility study a few years ago (and also passed around an illustration of an optimistically blue-watered bayouside beachfront, shown below):

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Lakes of Main St.
10/25/16 6:00pm

12020 Tall Oaks St Bunker Hill, TX 77024

12020 Tall Oaks St Bunker Hill, TX 77024

12020 Tall Oaks St Bunker Hill, TX 77024The house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for insurance company exec William Thaxton is back on the market again as of Friday, now listed at just $2.795 million. Wright designed the triangle-and-diamond-themed home with no air-conditioning system in 1954, though Thaxton and the builder eventually snuck some ducts into the red concrete floor; the mid-century space later got a classically-inspired makeover and circled the market drain toward lot-value sale and presumed teardown. But an early 1990’s buyer saved the property from demolition and removed the pineapple-shaped finials — while adding a high-ceilinged, right-angled extension which enclosed the almost-a-parallelogram pool in more of a central courtyard. (That extension contains a living room, lofted entertainment space, bedrooms, and a kitchen, meaning the occupant doesn’t have to spend time in the angular Wright portion of the building if they don’t want to. )

The new listing (the latest in an on-again-off-again series of market stints that started in 2010 at $3.5 million) includes a few new angles on the property, which (as seen from above) sits alongside a channelized ditch draining directly south from Memorial City Mall to Buffalo Bayou. The lights around the front door and entryway are equilateral triangles:

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Mid-90s Modern in Bunker Hill
12/09/15 3:50pm

2115 Wroxton St., Southampton, Houston, 77005

As of yesterday, the home at 2115 Wroxton is on the market again — this time for $4.5 million, and with some zoomy new angles among the listing photos.  When last we left the home in February of this year, the Southampton property had been listed (for the second time) for just under $3.5 million, and was bracing for auction with a minimum bid of $2.9 million. But the property was pulled from the market at the end of May, with no recorded sale. (The mod was first listed for $3.75 million in September 2013, but was pulled the following July.)

The new listing allows prospective buyers to peer across 1 of the 3 courtyards to Wroxton St. out front (above), and to gaze down into the pool through the solar screen (below):

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Third Time’s The Charm
04/24/15 3:00pm

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Until neighboring homes now under construction weigh in, the largest home — by just a couple sq. ft. — on its Museum District block in Jandor Gardens is a custom 2006 contemporary by Stern & Bucek. The home stacks up on one side of a wide, slightly terraced, slightly dog-legged lot. The property avoids pesky back neighbors entirely — the lawn, landscaping, and pristine pool extend to the street behind. Earlier this week, the listing appeared on the market with a $3.95 million price tag.

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Back Stretch
04/21/15 3:30pm

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A semi-prairie style property pitched as an “executive home” in The Woodlands’ Mirror Ridge section of Indian Spring dresses its kitchen cabinetry in pinstripes (top). The 2001 home’s relisting today downsizes the asking price to $699,900 from the previous listing’s $712,000, which had been in effect for a month.

Several of the rooms make the most of their position off a semi-private courtyard that’s located on one side of the footprint.

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The Open Prairie
04/17/15 4:00pm

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Ferns grace the interior wallcoverings (top) as well as the exterior landscaping of this 1961 custom mod in Marilyn Estates. Listed at $509K, the home presents a gated and landscaped courtyard entry (above) off the cul-de-sac of a street located a block south of Brays Bayou and west of Chimney Rock Rd. The walkway to the doubled front door is covered, but the adjacent open garden with fountain and sculpture provides a private outdoor space for rooms that face it on 3 sides of the home’s U-shaped floor plan:

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Inner View
04/10/15 3:00pm

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Woodsy trim takes a casual course through a 1941 home in Idylwood, starting with a boarded up wall in the living room (top). The property’s listing earlier this week came with a $459K price tag — and a Sunday afternoon open house on its calendar.

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Trim Tweaked
04/08/15 5:00pm

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To take a dip in the atrium pool of a sleek Glendower Court home in Upper Kirby, you’ll need to head up a level. It’s a second floor feature of the 2006 contemporary by Steve Howard Designs. Located east of Westgate and north of Fairview, the April Fools Day listing has a no-joke $4.3 million asking price.

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Pooling Resources
04/07/15 3:30pm

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The front yard of a property in Camp Logan’s Minola section is nice and shady. So’s the driveway that takes up most of it, though it shares critical space with a well-established tree. Both are located across from Camp Logan Park, or whatever folks call the grasslands formed by a triangle of streets at Wanita Pl. and Taggart St. The 1940 home (the listing calls it 1980) re-renovated its 1995 renovations earlier this year. After 2 weeks on the market at $1.2 million, the 2-toned home took a brief breather on Friday before re-listing. The property’s price tag took a trim and is now asking $1.1 million.

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Peak Experience
04/01/15 12:15pm

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The only assembly on this Lexington Green property appears to be of seating. It musters throughout the grounds of the updated 1972 contemporary, which soldiers on in Memorial’s Bunker Hill Village. The spit-and-polished property’s relisting on Monday trimmed the asking price by $50K to $1.575 million. A previous listing spent a month on the market at $1.625 million. A pool, landscaping, and outdoor venues help populate the lot, which occupies nearly half an acre near the cul-de-sac end of a street off Memorial Drive where it makes a sharp turn north, a bit east of Gessner Rd.

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Chairing Cross