What’s this 15,811-sq.-ft. home in Cypress doing on the market . . . for a fat $9.8 million?
Looks like the seller might be needing to do a little downsizing!
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Seamlessly blending elements of a Hill Country resort, a Las Vegas spa, a Star Furniture showroom, the Olive Garden, and maybe a little rococo, this home sits on a little 80-acre lot off Telge Rd., where there’s certain to be demand for this sort of thing. It features 6 bedrooms, 7 full and 2 half baths, and enough garage space to gobble 8 cars. There’s also a guest quarters with 2 apartments.
It’s the home of John Speer, who until recently was the president of Royce Builders. And it hit the market two weeks ago, just as Royce hit the wall.
Highlights include this quaint Breakfast Room:
The Kitchen, which features 2 refrigerators, 2 ovens, 2 dishwashers, 2 microwaves, 2 warming drawers, and unreachable overhead cabinets:
A Master Bedroom designed to make any bed look puny:
And a Master Bath with its very own perfume store:
The Media Room takes cues from a corporate Break Room, the movie screen mounted artfully over snack-filled cabinets:
- 16427 Telge Rd. [HAR, via Swamplot inbox]
- John Speer [Extreme Makeover]
- Royce Builders: It’s All Over But the Refunds [Swamplot]
- Royce Builders [Swamplot]
I like the way it just punches you in the face with its mega-classiness!
They had to build it off Telge? Couldn’t they do it a little further out?
This shows why the company went down. Did they really need to build something this big?
The only thing this place could be used for is as a party hall for weddings and such….
Leave the furniture and I’ll take it for an even ‘mil…
Perhaps when the entire economic world order collapses, a giant neo-Maoist cooperative will appropriate it.
From Novice:
Perhaps when the entire economic world order collapses, a giant neo-Maoist cooperative will appropriate it.
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Yeah! Whoever said that worker housing couldn’t be ultra-fabulous?!
OK, I guess MEYERLAND!
Oh, this wasn’t the neighborhood guessing game?
Heck, shouldn’t someone ask this guy to testify before Congress about the current economic crisis?
Why can’t people in Houston who decide to spend millons on homes hire real architects instead of just paying builders to upsize the same crappy plans from their collections of faux-you-name-it crap? I realize this was a builder building his own home, but in NY, Chicago, and SFO, the multi-millionaire builders own homes are usually architecturally outstanding, not just bigger and uglier like this hulking mass of bad design.
A drive through River Oaks finds many new 10,000 sq. ft. plus homes and almost all seem to be builder specials upsized to deformity. So many wasted opportunities, especially since the money is being spent – just poorly, on crap.
Just goes to show money can’t buy taste.
I’ll take it for $500/acre. The discount is because I would have to hire someone to plow under that monstrosity. The 80 acres I could use, though.
And they don’t even show you the dual carriageway driveway or the gatehouse. And is that a maze or just some sort of formal Elizabethan style planting? Capability Brown would turn in his grave.
Damn, Karen took my joke… I was gonna guess West U…
Oops, forgot to add the link earlier
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=16427+Telge+Rd+cypress&sll=29.921985,-95.625515&sspn=0.050808,0.066261&ie=UTF8&ll=30.012653,-95.6568&spn=0.006345,0.008283&t=h&z=17
I just puked all over my computer.
Here’s a bird’s eye view:
http://maps.live.com/#JnE9eXAuMTY0MjcrVGVsZ2UrUmQrY3lwcmVzcyU3ZXNzdC4wJTdlcGcuMSZiYj01MS4zOTkyMDU2NTM1NTM4JTdlLTU2LjYwMTU2MjUlN2UyLjM3MjM2ODcwODY0NDA1JTdlLTEzNC4xMjEwOTM3NQ==
(Apparently shot before they had finished the fence or planted much in the way of grass…)
I am SURE that no corporate resources were use din the construction of this oh-so-tasteful monument to excess….
WHAT JUSTIFIES THE ASKING PRICE?
Market – 3,349,311
Appraised – 2,685,410
I’m certain that 9.8 mil is almost 3x more than the market value.
HERES a link to HCAD:
http://www.hcad.org/records/details.asp?tab=2&bld=1&card=1&taxyear=2008&acct=0460490000035
Good LUCK!!
P.S. Does anyone know Mike Manners house is for sale.
Telge: This family owned land in the area around Cypress Creek. They emigrated from Hanover, Germany in the late 1800s. A number of family members are buried in the Knigge Cemetery off Huffmeister Road in northwestern Harris County. Among these persons are Chester, Alma, Louis and Geborne Telge.
Shoot – looks like a great location. They can just sit around of an evening hammering back beers with their pals from Telge Manor across the street in complete and utter privacy.
In response to the logic behind the asking price: I believe they’re trying to help bring up property values in that area! They probably feel it’s their duty since they’ve been bringing them down all across the city for so long. Can you say GAUDY???
Does that price include “Homestar” ???
I don’t know what all of you are talking about – this is a breathtakingly elegant home of distinction. Naah – just kidding, it’s freaking heinous. And as a former employee of that company I was actually very slightly involved in it’s development – not the highlight of my career.
John Speer’s printed words:
For Speer, it’s about “living your life in a manner so you can make a difference in the lives of others.”
Well he sure has. He walked off owing subcontractors and suppliers Millions.
Some had to go out of business.
Thanks John.
Sell it at auction and give the proceeds to those he defrauded. Or, you could always just let them all eat cake!
WOOOOOOOOW!! Are you for real, this is one the best homes I have seen EVER!!!
It has a pool to die for, land that you can build on, and with this land I could be the next Micheal Jackson; The Neverland II.
What do i do about a judgment awarded to me by a jury in 2006 that is unpaid by Royce/John Speer?
What do i do about a judgment awarded to me by a jury in 2006 that is unpaid by Royce/John Speer?
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Probably just frame it because no doubt the
“corporate” entities involved no longer exist. Which in itself explains why business loves doing business in Texas.
Truly gaudy.Hopefully his creditors will split the proceeds ,if & when , this tacky,crappy,heinous monstrosity sells. To some pretentious,desperate,striving “socialite”.