08/02/11 4:47pm

A reader sends us this latest photo (at bottom, with close-up) of the ongoing smashing and crushing action at the former home of Astrodome builder H.A. Lott on Sugar Creek Blvd. in Sugar Land. The low-slung, Frank Lloyd Wright-ish house designed for Lott in 1975 by Houston architect Karl Kamrath was put on the market last year after a renovation.

Photos: HAR (before), Swamplot inbox (after)

07/29/11 8:02am

What’s to see at the Wichita St. Mystery House estate sale today and tomorrow? The usual household stuff . . . but “tons” of it, according to the Craigslist ad. You know, several refrigerators, an uninstalled “apple and desert rose” jacuzzi bathtub, and an uninstalled elevator. Sadly, all contents of the well-turreted home at 2309 Wichita (as well as its neighbor at 2306) must go. The home Charlie Fondow just couldn’t stop adding onto and renovating for more than 3 decades is still listed for sale at $325,000, but teevee reporter Isiah Carey — who calls the persistent builder’s distinctive creation the Castle of Third Ward — says he’s heard that “the bank is ready to get rid of it for much less in a short sale.”

Photo: Candace Garcia

07/27/11 4:26pm

Courtesy of a Swamplot reader who spied the wreckage, we now have photo confirmation that the recently renovated former home of Astrodome builder H.A. Lott, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright devotee Karl Kamrath in 1975, is currently being smashed to pieces. That’s the steel frame of the north end of the house being mangled above. And we have a video, too! Not of the demolition — but of the sleek-looking home itself last year, when it was on the market for just over a million bucks. Treacly but ultimately ineffective soundtrack included:

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07/25/11 1:07pm

Yes, it looks like demo equipment has already arrived in the driveway of the MacKie and Kamrath house in Sugar Creek featured a little less than a year ago on Swamplot. The home was originally built in 1975 for Astrodome builder H.A. Lott, in the Houston architects’ famed signature Frank-Lloyd-Wright-without-the-cape style. The photo above was sent in by a reader, who passes on a rumor from neighbors — that the 4,426-sq.-ft. home’s new owners plan on tearing down the structure and putting up a 2-story something in its place. After an extensive renovation, the the 4-bedroom on a 36,041-sq.-ft. waterfront lot was listed for north of $1 million last August. It sold in April for around $800K. A few pics of what now appears to be headed for the landfill:

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07/22/11 10:25pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HIDING YOUR SURPLUS SQUARE FOOTAGE “The saddest part of this discussion is that nobody would have known or cared if the Schillers had simply paid $50,000 for a 170-square-foot extension to their home, in the form of a fully furnished guest apartment, and decorated it as a ‘playroom.’ My home is not in River Oaks, nor near it, but one of its spare bedrooms is furnished as a play room. We also have a ‘quarters’ above the garage. I await the vigorous disapprobation of the swamplot crowd, and the river of suggestions that I should convert this playroom and those quarters into homeless shelters. I dare say that a good number of readers of this blog have spare bedrooms and/or quarters in their homes, and these spaces . . . go unused for a large part of the year. God knows, if everyone could just convert all their guest quarters and spare bedrooms into homeless shelters, Mankind would finally transcend into the Superior Beings we all deserve to become. Thank goodness we have the Commenters of Swamplot to Guide us along the Path toward Righteousness!” [J.V., commenting on The Fanciest Playhouse in River Oaks]

06/21/11 11:56am

Future architect Brinn Miracle takes readers on an in-depth exploration of all 9 homes that were featured in the Art Institute of Houston’s Modern Home Tour earlier this month, pointing out the kinds of issues that might not be so apparent from promo photos: “The one flaw I couldn’t overlook was the lack of door to the master bathroom. While its true that couples ‘share everything’, I doubt that anyone would want to be walked in on while using the toilet. The problem, as you’ll see in the photo, is that the entrance to the bathroom faces a huge mirror –– with a direct reflection of anyone sitting on the toilet. You have to walk past this bathroom entrance in order to leave the master bedroom, so unless your partner is okay with you dashing past while looking the other way, you’ll be stuck in the bedroom until the um…business…is done. How two people are supposed to get ready in the mornings is beyond me. ‘Honey, please go brush your teeth in bed while I take a leak. I’ll let you know when I’m finished.’ While this oversight put a damper on the project, it was very well thought out otherwise.” Also included: Miracle treatment of Collaborative Designworks’ Hyde Park Double.

Photos of 1818 Palm St., by Intexure Architects: Brinn Miracle

06/13/11 11:02am

A reader asks us to check out the views from the large windows in the master bath of this 1959 Woodshire 4-bedroom. Looks like you can see out, across a little inside court to the red curtains of . . . the master bedroom? Oh, and back atcha! Similarly, uh . . . inspiring views from behind those red curtains, into the bathroom and shower:

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06/06/11 11:42pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: KEEPIN’ IT FRENCH “If a buyer does not appreciate authentic French construction or understand the architecture and passion involved to complete a showplace like this, keep moving. The basic bones are French and a crime to strip the beauty from it. . . . French rooms are meant to be ornate, lots of specialized woodwork, and rooms always separated from others. I know I just sold my parents authentic French home that took 4 years to build and 4 years on the drawing board. Every detail was studied and nothing too small to compromise the integrity of the house. They enjoyed the home for 15 years. I was privileged to live there and watch the delight on people’s faces as they toured the home. My point, a true French home only shines when it is in it’s original state. renovation of course. My parents loved Jerry Moore’s petite chateau. Keep it french.” [Meredith, commenting on On Second Thought, Nevermind: The $5 Million Gut-and-Flip of Jerry J. Moore’s Little French Castle in Houston]

05/18/11 10:49pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HE-MAN, YOU HAVE THE POWER TO SAVE THESE TURRETS! “This house will more than likely be torn down. It’s a shame, really, because it’s one of the most unique structures in town, but the list of people who, a) could afford the $300K price tag, and b) would want to live in a house that looks like Castle Grayskull, is probably pretty short.” [Stormy Blanco, commenting on Wichita St. Mystery House Goes on the Market Today: Your First Peek Inside]

05/18/11 5:01pm

After the Orange Show, the Beer Can House, and the Third Ward home of the Flower Man, probably no Houston home has accumulated more outsider-art street cred than Charles Fondow’s decades-long transformation of a former Riverside Terrace daycare center into a bubbling stew of half-timbered gables, turrets, and towering rooftop decks. The ongoing Wichita St. skyward expansion project had an air of mystery, too. In Jennifer Mathieu’s 2001 Houston Press profile, Fondow comes across as shy and self-effacing, though he had by then spent $300,000 and countless hours of hard work on his grand, mostly-DIY creation, inspired by visions he had collected from visits to exotic far-away lands like Russia and Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Fondow, who loved to travel, passed away in March after falling ill on a Caribbean cruise. His gotta-keep-adding home-improvement project had lasted 31 years. And earlier today, a for-sale sign went up on the property. The listing features a first public viewing of what everybody wants to see: the building’s innards. Could this place be just as weird and wonderful inside as what Fondow carefully assembled outside and on top?

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05/10/11 7:15pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHEN THAT SECOND MASTER SUITE COMES IN REALLY HANDY “Its for when the inevitable divorce comes and they split the house between the east and west wings. Its alot cheaper than a fire sale and in a house this big, they could drop a wall down the middle and still have plenty spacious living. I’m sure the pool table room and the kitchen are in opposite wings for this same reason.” [Lost_In_Translation, commenting on Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Enter, Stage Upper Right]

04/18/11 9:33am

If, when the place was up for sale last year, you only liked what you saw of the legendary ornate sorta-replica French palace in Sherwood Forest that Houston strip-mall king and car collector Jerry J. Moore pieced together for himself from actual French parts, you’ll absolutely love the home in its latest incarnation: The 12,734-sq.-ft. interior has now been gutted completely. And, the home’s current owners hope, you’ll be willing to pay about $5.15 million more for it in its current condition than they were when they bought it about this time last year for just $3.75 million — you know, when the interior had things in it like floors and walls and ceilings, not to mention functioning electricity and plumbing. Also swept away by demolition crews for today’s more sophisticated, imaginative, and demanding buyer — Moore’s famous 26-car garage at the back of the property, with the “treehouse” quarters above it, as well as the poolhouse. Listing agent Diane Kingshill of Martha Turner Properties tells Swamplot both of those structures were in poor condition and had mold.

But if any mold was also hiding in the marble flooring, chandeliers, or extensive wood paneling of the main house, it’s clearly gone now. All that sweat equity put in by the current owners has many more benefits — certainly enough to justify the $8.9 million asking price with which the home has returned to this year’s much stronger market. Just see what interior vistas have been opened up, in a home once full of visual obstacles:

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04/11/11 8:19pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE REAL REASON THEY DON’T BUILD SO MANY STEEL OR CONCRETE HOMES IN HOUSTON “Additionally, you’re very limited when building out of steel or concrete, engineering requirements limit the shape and interest in the house. The walls of the second floor HAVE to sit on another wall underneath and forget about turrets and towers (can be done but very difficult). Like it or not, in today’s market turrets and towers add interest to the elevation of the house and they sell!” [commonsense, commenting on Tin House Panic Grips West U]