A sheered-up 1968 Modern home in Meyerland relies on its unadorned clerestory windows for natural light to play across the lighter shades of pale finishes found in many of the decoratively restrained rooms. The only-been-one-owner home, north of Brays Bayou near Hillcroft, listed this week with an asking price of $329,000.
The only difference between this 1981 West University property’s new listing and a previous one in mid-March appears to be the $110,000 escalation in price since its sale in mid-April, for $525,000. The current photos are a bit grainy and bleak, but they document how the unoccupied interior and lot-filling pool and deck have been faring as prices rise:
Smile and step carefully. No fewer than 16 security cameras are installed in this battened-down Braeburn Acres property, a 2007 custom design by Cameron Architects. It’s a big, big stucco-over-concrete-block house — more than 10,000 sq. ft. — with 50 stone columns supporting a double-decker carousel of arches and tile-topped rotundas. The cleared 1.2-acre lot includes a pool-in-progress and very little landscaping (other than lawn). Maybe that explains why a cartoony rendering (at top) is employed as the listing’s featured photo.
The furnishings and perennial planting changed between this home’s two most recent homeowners, but that’s about it for this back-on-the-market Woodson Place bungalow. The 1920 middle-of-the-block property was listed a week ago at $429,000, less than a year after (and $42K more than ) its April 2012 purchase.
As multiple personalities go, this spread in Spring Branch exhibits 3 faces of eaves. The modified ranch-style home’s straight-laced street facade (top) with porte-cochère and circular driveway gives way to a playful resort-like setting (above), with rocky waterfall, tiki hut, pool, and palm trees — as well as quarters way, way out back on the acre-and-a-half corner lot. A 1985 remodeling raised the roof of the 1962 main home and added a super-sized, Hill-Country-inspired, somewhat-sunken den (above right) with an across-the-back wall of full-height windows facing the well-shaded, placid-meets-partytime yard.
From the street, this lightly landscaped property in Antoine Forest Estates appears a bit stark. The 1983 home’s greenery is out back, however, where a screen of trees at the lot line throws shade on a yard-sized pool and patio. The outback scenery’s all within view of the main living area’s floor-to-cathedral ceiling windows fireside. There’s another unobstructed view over in the master bathroom (at left), where the soaker tub’s picture window also shows off nature. In both directions. For even more natural surroundings, head to the westside trail of nearby White Oak Bayou.
Robert Boyd’s original remarks on the scraping of the Wilshire Village Apartments briefly mentioned another older apartment complex that Matt Dilick redeveloped and now runs: the Bayou on the Bend Apartments, at 5201 Memorial, just west of Shepherd. Boyd’s link to discussions of that complex at ratings website Apartment Ratings sparked a quick note from a reader:
It looks like Apartment Ratings attracts tenants who want to complain, but it seems like most of the gripes about other apartments focus on managers who are hard to deal with, thin walls, neighborhood crime, that sort of stuff. Have you read the reviews of Bayou on the Bend?
Bayou on the Bend gets a 35 percent positive rating from readers who have written in to comment — certainly not the lowest number for a large Houston complex. Here are a few choice excerpts:
There will be a grand total of 652-and-a-half private bathrooms in Houston’s Turnberry Tower. Apparently this is the kind of attention to detail that’s needed to attract buyers who are flush with assets:
When meeting with buyers, Turnberry’s sales staff emphasizes the high life they’ll enjoy, said [Turnberry Ltd. vice president Jim] Cohen, with the 40-year-old condo tower developer.
They’re told, for example, that when they hang out by the pool, a Turnberry staffer will offer a cool towel for their neck and wipe sunscreen from their sunglasses.
Image of Turnberry Tower plaza-level pools: Turnberry Ltd.
Do you experience the urge to urinate frequently? Do you suffer from recurring bladder infections? An enlarged prostate? And one more question: Do you have $8.5 million burning a hole in your (probably moist) pocket?
Well then, you’re certainly going to pee in your pants when you see the exciting floor plans for the two “Gramercy Tower Suite” penthouses on the top floors of Houston’s 34-story Turnberry Tower! Yes, this will be the height of luxury: 11,860 sq. ft. of living space on three separate levels of an Uptown highrise; an additional 3,535 sq. ft. of terraces; 4 bedrooms plus a Den, a Guest Suite, and a Staff Room for live-in help; a Media Room, two Lounges, and a 2-story Great Room; a private elevator entry; your own private pool and cabana; and so much more.
But forget all that. What makes this little pied-à-terre special is that even if all that space perched high in the sky (and the at-least-jaw-dropping panoramic views) gives you an unmistakable urge to evacuate, you’ll only be a few shuffling paces away from a toilet: Each unit comes with nine-and-a-half bathrooms. And if that’s not enough, there’s plenty of room to add more!
Read on for more of the scoop on where to poop: floor plans for the top two floors, with more porcelain palaces clearly marked. Plus: a closeup of Swamplot’s favorite Turnberry penthouse pit stop!
Comment of the Day: How Big Was the Shamrock Hotel Swimming Pool Again?
“They didn’t have boat races. We did do waterski shows there for several years.” [gary, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Shamrock Hotel Shine and Fall]