With a tricked-out log cabin like this, Abe Lincoln might have overshot the presidency. Far from rustic, the country home in Friendswood sits on 10 ATV-friendly ag-exempt acres. A deep porch surrounds the 1-story home, which was built in 1994.
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Tag: Homes for Sale
Does the Saint Germain Foundation qualify as a church? That’s the story the listing agent sticks to in her description of the property for sale on the corner of Greenbriar and Portsmouth. As a qualifying religious institution, it’s exempt from local property taxes. The Illinois-based group, founded by mining engineer Guy W. Ballard in 1934, is selling its longtime Houston home across Greenbriar from the Shepherd Plaza shopping center and worldly-goods discounter Tuesday Morning. According to followers of Ballard’s teachings, the organization’s founder had previously completed earthly stints in the person of Achilles, Alexander the Great, Kings Richard I and Henry V of England, and George Washington; in 1939, in lieu of dying, he became Ascended Master Godfre. The 3,000-sq.-ft. home at 3700 Greenbriar was built a year later.
- 1121 E. 26th St. [HAR]
Do you remember the MuffinMan? Or maybe you’ve been trying hard to forget it? Well, the home of “the greatest penis shaped muffin restaurant Houston [ever?] had” — aka the yellow 1940 American foursquare at 2310 Converse St. just north of Fairview — is now in foreclosure and was listed for sale last week. Sadly, the listing photos show almost no signs of those few whirlwind months in the fall of 2010 when would-be restaurateur Jason Perry operated a notable Montrose after-hours spot on the premises — without bothering to obtain any of the necessary city or state permits. No signs, that is, except for that painted “Muffin Man” insignia still emblazoned on the front of the home’s upper story.
Possibly the largest house numbers in Houston belong to this painted-brick structure at — what is it? Oh, yeah — 2101 Banks St. in Boulevard Oaks. Among the perks available with the revamped 1935 home: built-in bookcases in the entryway, a 2-story back porch overlooking a landscaped back yard, and a vastly reduced likelihood that you’ll ever receive someone else’s mail by mistake.
- 11802 Stanwood Dr. [HAR]
- 1034 43rd St. [HAR]
When he died last year, did Melvin Lane Powers really have a photo of his aunt and former lover, Candace Mossler, enshrined on his living room mantel? Or is this foreclosure listing photo just some agent’s idea of a real-estate insider’s awkward joke? A tipster who’s sure the 3-bedroom, 5-and-a-half-bathroom property near the corner of Caroline St. and Wentworth was the real-estate developer and true-crime celebrity’s home for the last several years (both he and his estate are listed as former owners on the property’s county tax records) believes the fireplace pic — possibly the only home-decor item left in the house — is a portrait of Mossler, who died of a prescription-drug overdose in 1976.
- 4306 MacGregor Way [HAR]
- 10302 Metronome Dr. [HAR]
SHE WOULDN’T GET OUT OF BED, SO I SHOT HER 
A magazine for Houston real estate agents has this version of the backstory behind the body-in-the-bed photo featured in a Heights-area bungalow listing posted last week: “The current tenants are being evicted, and therefore, were uncooperative in making the home look attractive to any other buyers. They refused to clean it for showings and, clearly, even refused to move when [real estate agent Traye] Wise and his assistant stopped by to take interior photos for the listing website; Wise said he asked the husband if he could rouse his wife from bed so they could take just one photo of the bedroom’s interior sans tenants, and while the husband allegedly told his wife to get out of bed, she refused. ‘This was in no way done on purpose,’ Wise said about the bedroom photo. ‘It was supposed to be edited to take (the woman sleeping in bed) out. It was supposed to be Photoshopped, and my assistant put it up by mistake.’†[Houston Agent Magazine; previously on Swamplot]
HOW THE RIVER OAKS HOUSE OF WOW BEGAN TO SPROUT 
Inspired by the enthusiasm of Swamplot commenters, Lisa Gray tracks down the story behind the looks-mild-from-the-street home of the Brill family, and its eclectic designer George Weinle: “They started with the dining room, which came to feel like something out of Oz. The custom-made dining-room table has an incredibly ornate pedestal: Weinle knew that Pat’s grandkids liked to play under the table, and he wanted them to have something to look at. Her Chippendale dining-room chairs are painted shocking mint green. An intricate red wooden chandelier that looks vaguely like a pagoda was made to George’s specifications; it hangs at the center of a ceiling painted to resemble a carousel top. Shiny blue woodwork fu dogs — the kind that guard Chinese restaurants — flank a doorway, and custom-made, vaguely Asian furnishings sprout as if of their own volition. The breakfast room, living room, entry way and library followed, bits and pieces at a time, done whenever Pat had the money. When George proposed the palm-tree pouf for the living room’s center, she called a retired decorator for a second opinion. “Either you’ll be a grand success or a laughingstock,” he told her. She took the chance. Twelve pillars in the living room? Gilding? More of those intricate wooden chandeliers? She said yes. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
