- 11802 Stanwood Dr. [HAR]
Sign up for the Newsletter
Tag: Interiors
- 1034 43rd St. [HAR]
- 4306 MacGregor Way [HAR]
KITCHEN ETHICS: PERMIT OR NO PERMIT? “I’m not sure who to go to on this, but I live in Eastwood and am doing a total upgrade of my kitchen. I’m going back and forth on whether to go through the city permit process or not . . . am trying to figure out the pros and cons. We have guys doing the construction that will work with us either way on it. Any thoughts?” [Swamplot inbox]
- 10302 Metronome Dr. [HAR]
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]
- 5304 Michaux St. [HAR]
THE HOUSTON OFFICE TRADEOFF 
“I don’t know whether he gets to take those paintings with him, but it looks like he’s in for an upgrade in the office department,” notes a reader commenting on the back-of-house museum real estate awaiting newly announced MFAH director Gary Tinterow in Houston. For a spread in the New York Social Diary last year, photographer Jill Krementz took this snapshot of the curator in front of the neater of the 2 desks in his park-view office at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The director’s office at MFAH doesn’t exactly look out on to Central Park, but it’s much bigger.” (It faces a walled-in garden space shielded from Montrose Blvd. traffic.) And Tinterow’s new salary may afford him the opportunity to upgrade from the IKEA floor lamp highlighted in Krementz’s office tour. “Also, fun fact,” notes our reader: “Late MFAH director Peter Marzio never had a computer. They were just kinda beneath him, I guess. The only thing on his huge desk was a red telephone. It looked like a White House War Room or something.” [Swamplot inbox; background] Photo: Jill Krementz
COMMENT OF THE DAY: INSIDE POLITICS “I’m amazed nobody who ran against him had pictures of this interior . . . this alone would sink a lesser candidate. For Example, ‘Bob Lanier claims to represent Houstonians, but how can he relate to the common man when perched on his pretty, pink, princess bed!?!’ -or- ‘11 Bathrooms?!?! What is he trying to hide?!?!’ -or- ‘Bob Lanier is such a clown, his ceilings are painted like a circus tent!’ I do kinda like the ceilings though . . .”
It’s been on the market for 2 and a half years, its price tag receiving regular trimmings during that time. And here’s the latest: The carefully choreographed 1988 River Oaks estate belonging to former mayor Bob Lanier and his wife, port commissioner Elyse Lanier, dropped a million more earlier this month. The 13,386-sq.-ft. pad is now available for just a smidge under $7 million, $5 million less than the original asking price.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FEEDING THE WEST OAKS MALL JCPENNEY ARTS BEHEMOTH 
“At 100,000 square feet, it is more than twice as big as all the alternative/artist-run spaces currently in existence in Houston combined. If it can actually be filled with stuff and events in a compelling, convincing way, it moves the center of gravity for Houston art to the west purely by virtue of its size. The more I think about it, the challenge will be figuring out ways to effectively use that space. Usually the issue for an art exhibit is a lack of space — a show at, say, Labotanica can feel uncomfortably cramped. For a curator or artist, this space presents the precise opposite problem. A good model in this regard might be Mass MOCA, the enormous museum in North Adams, MA. Filling the cavernous old factory buildings required big, bold artworks. Are there Houston artists who could step up to this challenge? I’d say yes — for example, Sharon Engelstein’s inflatables.” [Robert Boyd, commenting on New Arts Complex Planned for Abandoned JCPenney at West Oaks Mall] Photo: Sharsten Plenge
In a late-Friday afternoon press release that doesn’t mention Trader Joe’s at all, Alabama Theater owner Weingarten Realty is announcing that the company has begun construction on the landmarked 1939 Art Deco building at 2922 S. Shepherd to “create a more desirable space for future retail tenants.” What does that mean? Apparently, removing the few elements of the interior that made the building suitable as a movie theater: The entire screen wall along with the murals flanking both sides of the screen, and the auditorium’s sloped floor.
How did an artist out of L.A. convince the owners of Houston’s West Oaks Mall to turn the vacant building of former mall anchor JCPenney into a 100,000-sq.-ft. department-store-sized arts complex? Well, it helps that the building — at the northern crotch of the West Houston mall — has been sitting vacant for 8 years and has received no major retail anchor interest in the 2 years Pacific Retail Capital Partners has owned the property. It also helps that the artist, Sharsten Plenge, is a Pacific Retail employee — and that her father is the firm’s managing principal. But Plenge tells Swamplot the company is behind her novel rehab concept, which is currently her main focus at work.
