07/29/13 3:00pm

A renovated 1974 “Contemporary” in Briargrove Park is a glass act, though currently without a curtain call; most windows come unadorned (top) and look over manicured lawns (above) of Zoysia grass. The peekaboo property appeared on the market a week ago with an asking price of $799,000. That seventies show of angles and tilted roofage (at right) shelters an open-floor-plan interior with natural light beaming in from many levels and directions.

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07/26/13 2:00pm

There has been a clean up on Aisle 9 in an ivy-covered Houston Heights landmark. Previously converted into a home, the former Morton Brothers Grocery Store appeared on the market Wednesday with a $564,900 asking price. The ribs inside (above) aren’t for eating, though. They’re holding up the roof above the all-in-one living area at the front of the 1928 property, which has held a spot in the National Register of Historic Places — as a domicile — since 1988.

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07/23/13 3:00pm

Renovated a year after Tropical Storm Allison, this glowing midcentury home plays up its mini-mod origins. The 1952 property is in the Southern Oaks neighborhood of Braeswood Place, located just off Buffalo Speedway north of Brays Bayou. Behind the fortifications (top), a sleek interior lit by a south-facing clerestory (above) shows off furnishings aligned with a more European vision of mod — in black and pearl:

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07/19/13 4:00pm

Some of the green that goes with this early player in energy-conscious home building in Bellaire could be the $200,000 price increase over its sale last July, when it went for $1.35 million. The ca. 2002 limestone-and-stucco property with Texas Hill Country stylin’ — designed back then for her own family by architect Kathleen Reardon — popped back up on the market earlier this week with a $1.55 million asking price. Some of the enviro-sensitive elements are visible from the get-go, such as the deep overhangs on the eaves. Others are buried deep in the lot — where a network of caverns 250-ft. deep use underground temperatures to regulate the air conditioning and heating. Solar panels and low-water landscaping also play the green card.

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07/18/13 4:30pm

Boosted optics amp up the color wattage in the listing photos for this pool-centric, book-loving Southampton home by Rice architecture professor William Cannady. The revamped 1971 property just east of Greenbriar is still lookin’ all gussied up after its April appearance on a recent Rice Design Alliance home tour. In June, it popped up on the market, increasing its price by $100K to $1,485,000 the day after its listing.

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07/17/13 2:00pm

Expanses of lime carpet inside this 1971 contempo-mod home on a cul-de-sac just east of Wilcrest and south of Buffalo Bayou in Lakeside Forest look a bit like the front lawn on an otherwise woodsy lot. At least it did in the initial photos (top) of the listing, which made it to the market on Friday. Freshened-up photos added Tuesday focused more closely on the clean bones of the place, which has an asking price of $688,000. It’s not the block’s biggest home, but it sits on the largest lot: 32,592 sq. ft.

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07/12/13 4:20pm

A glowing (at least at dusk) example of Prairie School–style architecture by self-taught designer Richard S. Condon hugs the horizontal and hovers above the flatlands of Tanglewood. Its second level is almost entirely capped by casement windows. Condon passed away in January 2012. The residence on Doliver Dr. he built for himself in 1999 appeared on the market in March of this year, and has kept its asking price at a flat $3,260,000.

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