“There were just a lot of things that made me look at the pictures for a long time,” explains the househunting Houstonian who brought this 3-bedroom, 2-bath house in Willowbrook subdivision (near Willowbend) to our attention. “I just felt I had to share with someone.”
Readers, that’s why Swamplot is here.
Do not be fooled by this home’s quiet and unassuming exterior. A multitude of delights awaits you inside.
And there is plenty to share:
The attorney for Lakes of Avalon Village developer Robert A. Hudson is now saying that economic conditions make it “unlikely” that Lennar Homes and J. Patrick Homes will build on homesites in the path of a new proposed route for Segment F2 of the Grand Parkway in Spring.
But there’s no need to give up hope entirely: Lennar and J. Patrick apparently encountered few difficulties building and selling 60 homes sitting on the new highway’s earlier proposed route, in a different portion of the same subdivision. The developer’s stated reluctance to repeat the trick means the homebuilding market must be pretty tough now.
The new route would swing around the homes that have already been built and into not-yet-developed areas of Lakes of Avalon Village and neighboring Willow Trace.
What’s a failed homebuilder to do when it hurriedly goes belly-up . . . but still has a huge chunk of inventory on hand?
Welcome to the Royce Builders Already-Gone-Out-of-Business Home Sale!
How’s it work? Well, if you’re a lucky real-estate agent, you receive a mysterious message with a couple of attachments listing the more than 300 homes in the Greater Houston area the . . . uh, former company still has available! In 49 different neighborhoods around town! And all at discount prices!
Included with the list: a map of the neighborhoods Royce graced (shown above), demonstrating the company’s vast exurban spread.
Of course, the email message doesn’t come from Royce Builders, because Royce is . . . no longer with us. (And, to judge from the comments coming into Swamplot from recent Royce buyers, employees, and vendors, it is sorely missed!) The list comes instead from an email address on the h-smith.com domain. That hyphen, of course, stands for “ammer.” Didn’t Hammersmith Financial, Royce’s sister mortgage company, also go out of business?
But the property list is so much more fun than a collection of random way-far-out addresses:
Not quite Southampton, not quite Shepherd Square: It’s time to venture south of 59 for this weekend’s tour — of Greenbriar and nearby Ormond Place:
Location: 2348 Bartlett St.
Details: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths; 1,801 sq. ft.
Price: $289,000
The Scoop: Early PoMo townhouse in Greenbriar. Two bedrooms on ground floor; Loft/Study overlooking Dining Room. Vaulted ceiling in Living Room. Kitchen redone recently. On the market for a week and a half.
Open House: Sunday, 3-5 pm
Want to see more?
Your votes are in! And the winners weren’t: Eastwood (with 3 guesses), Woodland Heights, the Heights (2 guesses), Winlow Place, West University, Midtown, south Midtown, between Midtown and the Third Ward, around Elgin and 288, Montrose (3 guesses), Temple Terrace, “close to University of St. Thomas and the Menil,” Tanglewood, Southmore area, Riverside Terrace, Audubon Place (3 guesses), Sixth Ward near Houston Ave., the near Northside (2 guesses), Binz, Eastside, Avondale, Timbergrove, San Felipe/Briar Hollow, Mandell Place, Lawndale, or Lindale Park.
The correct answer was . . . the Westmoreland Historic District. Congratulations to reader tcpIV, who figured it out!
Four honorable mentions this week! The first goes to MariaO, who didn’t seem to make any mistakes . . . until she climbed too high:
Feels like a Montrose duplex to me, built in the 1930s but (mostly) renovated in the early 80s. I remember my grandma having that mediallion tile pattern from the second bathroom in her kitchen around that era.
Could be the north end of Montrose close to Allen Parkway — I’ll go out on a limb and say Temple Terrace.
The next goes to Cathy, who wasn’t too far away either:
1920’s or 30’s: tall ceilings and plenty of pre-AC windows. The kitchen could be an add-on — no original windows — but the door to the pantry makes you think it is in the original location. And I’d guess that the 2nd bathroom is new, or was new in the 70’s.
How many neighborhoods did Houston have in the 30’s? I’ll guess Avondale.
Also JT:
This has the earmarks of a home built around 1928-1935. Lots of remodelling evident from the 1970s kitchen to the garish Spanishesque floor tile in bath number two. The front door looks to be less than ten years old.
Judging from the size of the rooms and footprint, this seems too large for the standard 50′ lot in much of the Heights.
My guess is Mandell Place in Montrose.
Oh, and karen too:
I agree with JT about the timeframe for this house. It’s not quite bungalow style, and the interior fireplace puts it later in the 20th century….high ceilings, too. And it’s built on a pretty high crawl space foundation – see how the fence looks low from the windows! But the narrow moldings say late ’20s or early ’30s to me. Later ’30s had much smaller rooms.
I think it’s weird that the butler’s pantry has a space heater while the kitchen has forced air. What’s that about?
The last time anyone spent any serious money on this house was in the 80s or early 90s when they put in new kitchen cabinets. So this is likely in a neighborhood that’s seen some tear down pressure in the last decade or so, making many of the above guesses reasonable. On the other hand, the place is in good shape, telling me that the sellers aren’t sure if it’s a teardown or a remodel. Perhaps the previous owners simply lived on a budget and couldn’t afford the excesses of the ’90s and ’00s.
There was more than met the eye with this one:
This dramatically hung mobile above the entry and stairwell of the house for sale at 503 Fargo St. in Montrose certainly captures your attention!
But that’s not why reader Kelley Owen alerted Swamplot to the listing. She noticed some artwork hung much lower on the wall in the Master Bedroom . . . and calls it “possibly NSFW.”
It’s the final weekend before Election Day, which means you might want to use some of your open-house time for a bit of last-minute canvassing. And what better neighborhoods to do either in than two of Houston’s many New York- or Robin Hood-themed subdivisions! Westchester and Nottingham Forest, two Kickerillo-pedigree expanses above the northern banks of the Buffalo Bayou, are waiting for you. Knock on some doors!
Location: 14707 Broadgreen Dr.
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,694 sq. ft.
Price: $325,000
The Scoop: Slightly-dolled 1969 transitional Mansard Modern in Westchester. Central atrium. Paneled walls in Den. Laminate floors in Kitchen. Mirrored wall in Dining Room. On the market for a little more than a month.
Open House: Sunday, 12-2 pm
This way to more homes, and a brighter future:
This sure was a tough one again this week, wasn’t it?
First, your guesses: 4 for Kingwood, 2 each for The Woodlands, Clear Lake, Willowbrook, and Champion Forest. Plus: Memorial, Memorial near Dairy Ashford, off Briar Forest inside Beltway 8, Hudson, Fondren, Fondren Southwest, Briar Forest around Kirkwood, Briar Hills, between Wilcrest and Kirkwood north of Memorial, “Memorial and Gessner towards Westheimer,” “Gessner between Memorial and Briar Forest,” Jersey Village, Hammersmith, west of the Galleria between Woodway and Westheimer, Dairy Ashford, Atascocita, Humble, Spring, Jones Rd., FM 1960, Eldridge, Copperfield, Sugar Land, Sugar Land south of 59 and east of Williams Trace, Missouri City, Friendswood, Bear Creek, Quail Valley, Olde Oaks, Green Tee Terrace in Pearland, Lakeside Place, and Brook Forest.
That’s a lot of guesses! Many of them were close, veering toward the west side of town.
But not far enough west. Maybe if more of you Neighborhood Guessing Game lurkers had actually entered a guess, someone might have happened upon the right name. C’mon in next time, there’s room for you! More than enough Houston subdivisions to go around!
So: no winner. But an honorable mention goes to JT for this evocative description:
Going to date this house from 1977 to 1982 as the formica butcher block counters and
brick fireplace with the clerestory style ceiling are giveaways. The master bath looks original as it has a late 70’s “oversize greenhouse window and more interior brick. Gut reaction is Champion Forest/Olde Oaks area of Northwest Houston because of the layout, traditonal furnishings and oddball juxtaposition of a moonbridge, early american railings and soft contemporary open floor plan and window styles.
So where is it?
In this episode: four decade-old houses in New Territory, all within walking distance of . . . each other! Each home has distinctive touches! And they’re all open for your visit this weekend!
Location: 1743 Heddon Falls Dr.
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,769 sq. ft.
Price: $290,000
The Scoop: 1998 brick 2-story home with slightly winding path and two 10-year-old live oak trees in front. Double-height arched brick entry. Cathedral ceiling in Family Room. Hardwood floors downstairs, new carpet up. Breakfast Room has new light fixture. Pool and spa in back. On the market since mid-August.
Open House: Sunday, 1-4 pm
More New Territory options as the tour continues . . .
A reader points out that NexCasa — the company responsible for the Kung Fu Panda renovation covered here yesterday — has two more properties on Westview: another “‘flipper’ type ranch” one block east, which comes with owner financing — and this “ultra modern” new construction across the street.
The new construction at 8571 Westview, which our source says is “pretty far along,” will have 5 bedrooms and 5 baths in 4200 sq. ft., and is listed at $999,000.
For a good 3 weeks, this Kung Fu Panda stood guard over the front yard of a Spring Valley redo at the corner of Westview and Bingle, a reader reports. Since the hurricane, Po has relocated to the back yard. But he’s still visible from the street!
Maybe he’ll attract buyers! Some pix of the interior Po cleared out with his mad Kung Fu skillz:
If you want to see all the cool new homes on this weekend’s AIA Home Tour, it’s gonna cost you. If you want to go on the Old Sixth Ward Victorian Home Tour this weekend, it’ll cost you. But if you just want to poke into a few open houses in Oakwood Forest and Candlelight Forest West, taking Swamplot’s short-form open-house tour this weekend is completely free!
And the electronic version doesn’t even cost gas money. Here we go:
Location: 9619 Kindletree Dr.
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,615 sq. ft.
Price: $179,900
The Scoop: Remodeled 1971 2-story home in Candlelight Forest West. New tile floors, carpet, granite countertops, appliances, paint, and wet bar. Pool. Balcony off upstairs bedrooms. Just listed.
Open House: Saturday, 2-6 pm
Just a couple more:
We have a winner!
But first, your guesses for this week’s contest: River Oaks and Southampton each attracted 3 of you. There were 2 votes each for Tanglewood, Memorial and the Museum District. The rest: Spring Branch, West University, “along Kirby and west,” near the Ashby Highrise, Southgate, Castle Court, Boulevard Oaks, Montrose “between Richmond and Alabama, maybe between Hazard and Dunlavy,” Garden Oaks, Riverside Terrace, the First Ward, Old Braeswood, Bellaire, Rivercrest, Lynn Park, . . . and Heaven.
John (the first one, not the second) knew what to look for, and nailed it:
The built-in bookcases and day-bed thingy look exactly like those in my Ayrshire ranch house, and since this one fairly old and two stories, I’m going with Old Braeswood.
Congratulations!
A very strong honorable mention goes to movocelot, who figured out the house’s age and came extremely close to deducing the precise geometry of its recent expansion:
This house is old enough & well-situated enough to have been remodeled – seriously – twice. I see various windows, elec outlets and cabinetry.
Guess the newish family room pushed out from the kitchen has the newish master bath on top, for a new ridge at a 90 to the main house. (The original roof has the lavender office under it. Circa 1930.)
(Actually, it’s the Kitchen that has the Master Bath on top of it — saves on plumbing costs!)
Commenter karen, who was already familiar with the house, gets a special mention for trying to stir things up . . . with this wonderfully misleading entry:
Oh, this is totally southhampton! 1940’s construction, and beautifully updated. No professor in southgate could afford to do that. and it can’t be river oaks or old braeswood because the lot’s just not big enough. there are neighbors all but peeking in the windows!
Ready for the real tell-all?
This place is huge! 6000 sq. ft. of living space, reads the listing:
Includes 4 Big Bedrooms, 2 full baths, Large Formal Dining, Huge kitchen w/gas cooking, Granite Counters, Porcelain sink, walk-in pantry, breakfast bar, serving bar and tile floor. Living/Family area w/gas fireplace, wood laminate floors. large inviting entry. Study or 5th bedroom.
That’s a lot of home! How could anyone furnish it all?
Not a problem!
And here’s a view of the spacious 16×12 . . . uh, Master Bedroom in the home at 14543 Misty Meadow Ln. in Memorial Club. Plenty of room for . . . anyone!
The 2-story townhouse has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It’s been waiting patiently for you — on the market — since early May.
After the jump: There’s Bugs in the Den, too!
