The Hills are dead. And these houses are falling:
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Tag: Demolitions
Upgrading the Oak-to-home ratio Avenue of Oaks. And Ford unbuilt. Tough.
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
What’d they say about Glass houses?
A Wink nudge. Plus: angling for Saxon.
Just carving a little bit out of the Shell.
Let’s just clear this stuff off our desk before we get going:
The 8-plex at 4725 Oakshire went down in a cloud of dust last week. “Bummer,” writes Jared Meadors, the landlord next door who bought and renovated the largely identical building at 4719 Oakshire 10 years ago. And who claims he “would have totally paid more than lot value for these and restored them as I did the units at 4719” if he’d had the chance. Meadors’s pinkish brick building to the west of the cleared lot is visible at the left of this photo:
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Bennie makes them ageless.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE SHAMROCK HOTEL SHINE AND FALL “Wasn’t the greatest building, because Frank Lloyd Wright said so? The same guy who hated every skyscraper in New York City? This was Houston’s most famous landmark before the Astrodome. It was what people around the country thought of when they thought of the city. The point of the Frank Lloyd Wright story should be that the nation’s most famous architect HAD to make a visit there and give his opinion, it was that renowned. It captured a whole era of the city’s history — its rollicking, mid-century, oil-rich extravagance — better than any other building. But it made sense to tear it down because, gosh, it would have required renovating and updating. Oh, and the ceiling heights were low! With that reasoning, any historic building in the world would be torn down at some point.” [Mike, commenting on The Park Where Houston Architecture Critics Go To Sharpen Their Chops]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DEMOLITION IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER “. . . I see lots to be salvaged and given to Habitat for Humanity. All that wood flooring, everything in the kitchen, especially the stainless countertop and appliances, french doors, louvered closet doors, balcony railings inside and out, granite bar top and light fixture, bathroom cabinets and granite countertop, tub. Not sure if the tile flooring can be taken up, and the plate glass windows would be tough to pull without breaking. I would love to plan and build a house around items from Habitat. I have seen some very unique things there. For now, I just have a greenhouse with a door, leaded glass sidelight, and jalousie windows from Habitat. And some really neat ceramic tiles that I plan on putting on the potting bench. I’m going to go back and get reclaimed brick for the patio.” [Lynn, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Passing the Red Baton]
What’s going to replace the Willowick Court Townhomes (at right) at the corner of West Alabama and Las Palmas, west of Weslayan? Newer townhomes — at least for the strip along the west side of Las Palmas, on the western edge of the property. It’ll be covered with 38 3-story townhomes, about a dozen of them with rooftop patios. For the larger portion of the 11-acre site, Martin Fein Interests is planning 2 big blocks of apartments. The block pictured above from West Alabama will have 325 units in 6 stories on top of a 2-level parking garage, with a garden and pool in the courtyard and towers at the corners. Another 188-unit block lining West Main will have 7 stories on top of a single-level garage and feature an 8th-floor wine bar on the southeast corner (at left in the above image), a source tells Swamplot. The view below shows that building’s southeast corner, with the larger structure visible beyond it:
