40 replies to this topic

[kayzer]

tmariar, on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 @ 7:59am, said:

Thanks!

Though, the house hasn't been torn down yet, and Hakeem has cooperated with GHPA to some extent on other issues in the past - so I wouldn't assume just yet that he won't make some concession to the historical significance of this building. Even if it's just not charging a non-profit as much as he would a commercial venture for the purchase of the building.

This needs more publicity to push it over the edge. I signed it, though.

[tmariar]

kayzer, on Sunday, May 17th, 2009 @ 2:46am, said:

This needs more publicity to push it over the edge. I signed it, though.

Thanks!

[sevfiv]

I had forgotten, but a couple weeks ago I heard about an architectural firm making plans for a renovation and trying to stick to the original plans as much as possible. I know I don't have many details, and the actual project may not happen, but there is some activity in the planning of a restoration, even if it doesn't make it past the planning stage..

[tmariar]

That sounds like maybe good news - thanks!

[Sue O]

I don't know if my opinion would count as I left Houston in 1959, but grew up there from 1936-1959. As a Girl Scout in Harris County I would spent at least one or two weeks at Camp Tejas Girl Scout camp next door to the Jim West Masion. At that time the scouts had permission to use the swimming pool at the Masion. I remember peeking throught the windows of the deserted mansion and wishing with all my heart I could live there someday. We scouts loved the beautiful old home, and hated to see it not being cared for in the 40's. It would be such a shame to tear down this wonderful old place representing the great past.
The boys orphanage was across the inlet from the Girl Scout camp. As Scouts we rowed on Clear Lake when it was CLEAR and clean. My great aunt taught Webster HS teaching English and Latin, she produced Shakespearian plays for several years in that school. So many wonderful memories of days gone by.

[tmariar]

Sue O, on Monday, June 8th, 2009 @ 6:26pm, said:

I don't know if my opinion would count as I left Houston in 1959, but grew up there from 1936-1959. As a Girl Scout in Harris County I would spent at least one or two weeks at Camp Tejas Girl Scout camp next door to the Jim West Masion. At that time the scouts had permission to use the swimming pool at the Masion. I remember peeking throught the windows of the deserted mansion and wishing with all my heart I could live there someday. We scouts loved the beautiful old home, and hated to see it not being cared for in the 40's. It would be such a shame to tear down this wonderful old place representing the great past.
The boys orphanage was across the inlet from the Girl Scout camp. As Scouts we rowed on Clear Lake when it was CLEAR and clean. My great aunt taught Webster HS teaching English and Latin, she produced Shakespearian plays for several years in that school. So many wonderful memories of days gone by.

Thanks so much for posting your memories of the mansion and the area, Sue! I know from having grown up in Clear Lake in the 70's and 80's that not many people knew much of its history in the period you lived there. I would love to hear more. If you ever have time to share some stories in the Coastal Prairie or Historic Houston sub-forums, I bet others would be interested as well. I know that not many people remember the orphanage, for example, though I think there is an historical marker at the location.

[WestUNative]

Sue O, on Monday, June 8th, 2009 @ 6:26pm, said:

I don't know if my opinion would count as I left Houston in 1959, but grew up there from 1936-1959. As a Girl Scout in Harris County I would spent at least one or two weeks at Camp Tejas Girl Scout camp next door to the Jim West Masion. At that time the scouts had permission to use the swimming pool at the Masion. I remember peeking throught the windows of the deserted mansion and wishing with all my heart I could live there someday. We scouts loved the beautiful old home, and hated to see it not being cared for in the 40's. It would be such a shame to tear down this wonderful old place representing the great past.
The boys orphanage was across the inlet from the Girl Scout camp. As Scouts we rowed on Clear Lake when it was CLEAR and clean. My great aunt taught Webster HS teaching English and Latin, she produced Shakespearian plays for several years in that school. So many wonderful memories of days gone by.

Oh! Sue O, I attended Camp Tejas in about 1947 and somewhere here in a much earlier post I described exactly what you just did! We loved tramping over and peering into the depths of the mansion. I guess we were all enamored. Rowing on the lake, the separate wood cabins throughout the woods, making way through the "wilderness" to get to bathroom building in middle of night. I was only 6 at the time but loved it. Do you recall the pool decorations? Mosaic tile colors, perhaps of acquatic creatures? I cannot remember, just know it had some embellishment, not just plain vanilla.

Anyway the interior of the house looked like the occupants just up and left without moving their things and never came back, which I now understand is what the widow did.

[jjmcge]

Signed with pleasure...

[Specwriter]

I saw some activity going on at the West Mansion last weekend (a big dumpster on the east side of the main house and several workers with a few pickup trucks). There was also a Lull (a brand name of a large fork lift that is used to lift things like construction materials to an upper floor).

I've been out of town this week but will be heading down to the area this afternoon. Does anyone know what is happening there now?

[Houston19514]

Specwriter, on Friday, March 30, 2012 at 9:07 AM, said:

I saw some activity going on at the West Mansion last weekend (a big dumpster on the east side of the main house and several workers with a few pickup trucks). There was also a Lull (a brand name of a large fork lift that is used to lift things like construction materials to an upper floor).

I've been out of town this week but will be heading down to the area this afternoon. Does anyone know what is happening there now?

From Swamplot: "Hakeem Olajuwon's Dream for the Jim West Mansion: Flagship Clothing and Furniture Store?"

[Specwriter]

About 18 years ago, before it became the UTMB Open Gates Conference Center, an architect friend of mine oversaw a project on the Sealy Mansion in Galveston that was basically a stabilization of the existing structure - fixing leaks, repointing mortar, etc. - to stop deteriorization of the building. Fortunately the Medical Branch was able to realize its completed project shortly thereafter.

I can only hope some sort of stabilization is going on at the West Mansion until a viable adaptive use for the building can come about. Some of the things mentioned in the Swamplot article are simply ridiculous, especially the suggestion that the exisiting structure would be used for a high-end clothing or furniture store.

I like the idea of a reception and meeting place. In my estimation the main rooms seem large enough and the grounds extensive enough that all sorts of events could be held there. Even events held under canopies on the grounds are possible for a good part of the year (and have been held before) because the lake allows breezes that more "inland" places do not. I live in the 77586 zip code (Seabrook) and my family has often had picnic dinners at the county park on NASA Road 1 and at Sylvan Beach Park even as late as June where we were perfectly comfortable.

I have a daughter who may (I say MAY) be getting married in a few years and having the reception for that event at the West Mansion would be ideal. Perhaps the present owner should sell the property (sorry I can't afford it) and use the money to open his couture boutique some place where it might stand better than a snowball's chance on a July day in Houston like Highland Village. Or was that whole Swamplot article jumping the April 1st date just a bit?

Edited by Specwriter, Monday, April 2, 2012 at 11:32 AM.