Swamplot’s regular Friday roundups of weekend open houses have been on hiatus since Ike hit, for obvious reasons.
Is it time to start running these weekend open-house tours again? Or is it still too early? Any opinions on the format? What are your thoughts?
“Kirby Drive is just as purty as ever,” writes the Swamplot correspondent who took these photos Saturday.
The evidence?
That Sunday open house scheduled for this townhome at 18224 Lakeside Ln. in Bal Harbour Cove on Clear Lake? Probably not going to happen. Sadly, it may be that the only open houses taking place in the Houston area this weekend will be unscheduled ones.
If you find any impromptu open houses taking place in Hurricane Ike’s wake, how about adding them to this weekend’s Open House Tour? Send pix to the Swamplot tip line, or add your comments or directions below. Have any other Hurricane Ike photos, videos, or stories you’d like to share?
Joni Webb takes Cote de Texas readers on a driving tour of River Oaks houses, and reports:
. . . slowly yet surely, River Oaks has become a gated community of sorts without anyone realizing it. Instead of the one set of gates leading into the neighborhood, house after house is located behind their own iron gates now. Until my latest drive through, I hadn’t realized how many houses were gated in what was once a more accessible neighborhood. In America, we tend to think of gated communities as being far away, out in the suburbs, a place where people take flight against a rising crime rate. But here, in River Oaks, in the heart of the city, in the shadow of our downtown, this community has chosen to hide themselves behind formidable walls, and thus, have changed the look and atmosphere of one of our treasures.
Selections from Webb’s “exclusive” photo collection:
Something old, something new; some styles borrowed, some rather expensive houses sitting on the market for quite a while! Yes, it’s time to tour a few open houses in Glen Cove, tucked just under Memorial Park’s right wing. Here’s what you’ll find if you venture out this weekend:
Location: 6023 Rose St.
Details: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths; 1,885 sq. ft.
Price: $619,000
The Scoop: Lushly landscaped 1947 bungalow with small freestanding guest house in back but no garage. Remodeled Kitchen; lots of diagonally placed slate tiles. Window wall overlooks back yard with koi pond. On the market for 3 weeks.
Open House: Sunday, 2-5 pm
Wanna see more?
Here it is, the bastard brainy child of those old David Hockney photocollages and Quicktime VR: Microsoft Photosynth. Someday, maybe, it’ll revolutionize online real-estate gawking. For now, though, it just looks kinda cool.
Should your Labor Day weekend — or relocation — plans bring you to Seabrook and Lake Cove, you might want to take a peek at these open houses:
Location: 2330 Pin Hook Ct.
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,484 sq. ft.
Price: $215,900
The Scoop: Brick 2-story home from 1992 in Lake Cove. New granite countertops and appliances in the Kitchen; Downstairs Master Bedroom. Mirrored Dining Room; sprinkler system. On the market for more than 100 days. Price dropped 3 times, $9K total.
Open House: Sunday, 1:30-5 pm
Four more coastal casas to check out, below:
This weekend: Hunters Creek Village, up and down Voss. Big lots! Big prices! And the new construction is bigger too! Here’s a tour of what you’ll find open if you visit this Sunday:
Location: 7623 River Point Dr.
Details: 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,035 sq. ft.
Price: $999,000
The Scoop: Multi-bay Midcentury Modern classic in Riverbend, designed in 1955 by Preston Bolton and Howard Barnstone, altered in the late ’90s. Courtyard entry, vaulted ceilings. Extensive enclosed back porch overlooks Buffalo Bayou. Houston Mod’s “Mod of the Month” (along with the Tanglewood home on Huckleberry Ln. by Arne Engberg described here). On the market for 3 weeks.
Open House: Sunday, 2-5 pm
Wanna see more?
Veteran Houston hoofers John Nova Lomax and David Beebe and a guest suffer a vehicle breakdown on their latest walking tour — from West Fuqua up South Post Oak to W. Bellfort. The trip, says Lomax,
ended up as little more than a Bataan death pub crawl, taking in three unjustly obscure near southwest side strip mall taverns.
But . . . oh, the sights!
Thinking of taking a test drive on those Pearland Town Center parking lots this weekend? Why not stop by these Silvercreek open houses nearby? Silvercreek is “the community that feels like a neighborhood”!
Location: 2618 Misty Grove Dr., Manvel
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 2,923 sq. ft.
Price: $235,000
The Scoop: Trendmaker Homes doubled down on crown molding in this 2002 one-story. Large Kitchen with granite countertops and tall maple cabinets. Tile and carpet downstairs; carpet up. Large Master Bath has several slender columns, large mirrors, space for TV. Owners are VERY!!! interested in selling this house to you.
Open House: Saturday, 2-4 pm
More brick-faced sprawlers — after the jump!
Probably the best introduction to the particular and engaging humor of the Houston Chicks’ relentlessly cheery stuck-in-Houston-for-the-summer tourist travelogues is the soon-to-be-classic entry entitled “Houston: Day Seven” from last month, which begins with this striking line:
Today, we went to Rice Village…We stayed for 10 minutes…and left…
and ends, 10 photographs later, in a Galleria parking lot — after a brief repose with an egg-salad sandwich.
The brilliance of the Chicks’ photo essays is difficult to communicate in an excerpt. If you’re looking for a quick take, try The Houston Chicks Have Won!, which recounts a popular Houston archetype in only two frames.
But there’s so much more:
Above the gentle northern banks of Brays Bayou lie this weekend’s featured neighborhoods: the curiously named Emerald Forest and lofty Braes Heights. Midcentury Mod and Newcentury Faux, side by side! Why not take a peek?
Location: 3747 Gramercy St.
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 baths; 2,600 sq. ft.
Price: $449,500
The Scoop: 2-story postwar Mod in Braes Heights holding its ground between recent stucco interlopers. Many neutralizing updates. Three bedrooms on first floor. Large back yard; no garage. One of 3 Houston Mod “Mods of the Month” this weekend. On the market for a month and a half. Price already chopped $25.5K.
Open House: Sunday, 2-4 pm
Want to see more bayou-side treasures? Click this way, please!
This weekend, won’t you come visit some long-selling Tanglewood treasures? The lots are big but the lines will be short. Here’s what you’ll find:
Location: 1202 Chimney Rock Rd.
Details: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths; 2,316 sq. ft.
Price: $499,000
The Scoop: 1953 brick-front single-owner Ranch with carpet and wood paneling, waiting for land prices to increase or a better marketing plan. Listed for almost 3 months; price cut $30K already.
Open House: Sunday, 2-5 pm
Tangle with 4 more homes as the tour continues . . .
It appears our report earlier this week was a bit premature (although this one was more accurate). Rosenberg will be losing 2 out of its 3 Starbucks locations. And a total of 8 Starbucks stores will be closing in Houston — plus 1 in the Deerbrook Mall, which is technically in Humble.
Thanks to the pioneering work of a last-name-free coffee drinker going by the name Winter, who has been on a 11-year-long “personal mission” to visit and photograph every single Starbucks in the world, we now have a well-illustrated compilation of the 11 Houstonish Starbucks locations the company has decided to close as part of its 600-store nationwide shutdown extravaganza. Ready for the tour?
3821 S. Shepherd at Farnham. On the “other ” Shepherd Curve, across from Amy’s Ice Cream. It’s been hiding there for a while, but did it ever have customers?
More shuttered Starbucks below. See them all!
If you’re looking for a cool, low-hanging Modern home, Glenbrook Valley is your best bet! This week: Glenbrook Valley’s “Mod-palooza,” courtesy of broker Robert Searcy. Three of the homes below are listed as Houston Mod’s Mods of the Month.
Location: 8119 Stony Dell Ct.
Details: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths; 2,665 sq. ft.
Price: $199,900
The Scoop: 1954 brick L-shaped ranch on actual Houston hill at end of cul-de-sac. Carpet and tile floors; stone patio in back. Wood paneling in Den. Listed for just under 2 months.
Open House: Sunday, 2-4 pm
More moderately Mod-ish moments as the tour continues . . .
