SpaceAge

HAR shows this house sold on 5-29-07. There is already orange plastic fencing down the property lines to the street and two roll off containers in the front yard, one on each corner. The front door has been replaced with a piece of particle board and it looks like the fixtures are being removed. I am very worried. The place is quirky but it is one of the most dynamic houses in town. Surely the new owner can see its unique qualities and is preparing for a thoughtful restoration... It is unfortunate to see this area further diminished by some of the worst quality McMansions possible. The two at Scott and South MacGregor are detailed like trailers and suggest the designer was inspired by a giant bus shed. Spaces for three of four more McMansions are being made at that intersection.

Would you please ask your aunt if she was the singer of the original Thunderbolt Motor and Transmission Company theme from the 1970s? THIS is how I imagine she sounded. I love that song. I often sing it to myself. Singing it with proper accent should be one of the ways to prove someone is a native Houstonian.

The architect of 3602 Parkwood was Lenard Gabert, if I remember correctly. The house is in fair original condition but has had water damage from a leaking roof. Outstanding features of the house include: the foyer with spiral stairway, the living room mantel, the West entrance, and the upstairs East bedroom window detail. The plans show the downstairs master bedroom was added where a patio originally existed. HAR shows option pending, but they still scheduled an open house. Can it be demolished and redeveloped as smaller houses like the one nearby is reportedly doing? Lenard Gabert was shown to have been among the first class to resister at Rice Institute about 1912 and was from Houston. He must be among the first group of Houston trained architects. Other sites state he was a Jewish architect and designed several synagogues including those at Baytown, Wharton and Houston. The following is about the Houston synagogue: Mackie and Kamrath and Lenard Gabert were selected as architects. The Fretz Construction Company was awarded the building contract. The dedication of the building was held on September 9, 1949, when the congregation had 722 members. The original building comprised 65,000 square feet with a sanctuary seating 855 persons and Feld Hall seating an additional 1,800 persons for religious services. At that time these areas formed one of the largest spaces in the world under a cantilever roof, two-thirds of an acre without pillars. It appears Lenard Gabert has a son who is an engineer and a partner in an architecture firm in Houston.

Lars Bang said this house was designed by Lucian Hood. Lars was designing the house for Sammy Finger (Parkwood at Del Rio) at the same time. At the time, both Hood and Bang were working for architect Philip G. Willard while still students at the University of Houston. Willard made them partners in the firm before they graduated. Lars Bang said he and Hood were allowed to oversee their own projects exclusively since Willard spent all his time marketing his ceramic construction building method. Bang has a story about the construction of the house across the street from 4511 North Roseneath. It may have been designed by them too and it seems like it was a speculative house by the same builder but I will have to check my notes. Bang said he and Hood and several other classmates that worked for Willard had designed more buildings while students than some of their professors in their entire careers. Bang said he would often be hired to design modern buildings for older established architects who were having trouble with modern design. Bang would moonlight some nights and weekends to get the preliminary plans completed and the architect was usually successful at finally getting a design approved by his clients.

Perhaps you should consider contacting an interior designer for a few hours of consultation.

The above photos were staged for an attempted 1986 rejuvenation. 2006

My sister and I loved the No-No the Clown show. We discovered the show when we moved to our new house in 1968 and had our first roof mounted antenna for our giant RCA console TV/stereo which I still have in my den. No-No must have aired about 2:30 or 3:30 weekday afternoons. I got out of school at 2pm and after the 10 mile school bus ride down all the gravel roads in west Houston, it was past 2:30 by the time I got home, hot and dusty. After some purple Kool-Aide and some Nilla Wafers, it was time for No-No. It seems his costume had a collar that he would flip up over his face when he said something funny. We liked him better than Bozo because he talked to the children in a less creepy tone of voice. Still to this day, I sometimes tune to 16 in hopes they will be back on the air. We watched No-No on a TV like this but the speakers are wider. To get UHF 16 you turn the top center knob to U which is between 2 and 13 and then rotate the outer ring of the large knob to 16. And no, you may not change the station when a commercial comes on! Our whole world seemed to exist between the 2 and the 8. (2, U16, U39, 13, 11, 8)

Before and after photos of 2134 MacArthur: Go to the following site to see more. Before/After site http://sepwww.stanford.edu/~morgan/images/...ouse/index.html The updating of this house removed and covered everything that made this house special. The result is generic and sterile, lacking personality and distinction. Hint: most products from Home Depot, Lowe's, Linens and Things, Ikea, Pottery Barn, Bombay Co., etc. will do the same for any house.

This house was featured in the 1997 RDA home tour. The architect was Pierre Dene' about 1956. It was built for the owner of a large furniture and appliance store. The AIA Guide states, "This ranchero deluxe incorporates every possible feature of the '50s contemporary look." The following was taken from the RDA archives. Note that the house at 3403 North Parkwood Drive omits credit to Lars Bang who was the principal designer for client Sammy Finger. Lucian Hood did not participate in the design of 3403 North Parkwood Drive. Architecture Tour (April 26-27, 1997) Rancheros Deluxe The California ranch house has reached the seventy-year mark. The ranch fits into the era of modern architecture, and millions of ranch houses were constructed in the US after WW II. Lecture by Amy Aronson: Recreating the Ranch (April 23, 1997) 4216 Fernwood Drive, 1949, Bailey A. Swenson 3912 Roseneath Drive, 1956, Pierre Dene 3403 North Parkwood Drive, 1953, Philip G. Willard and Lucian T. Hood, Jr. 5330 Mandell Street, 1959, Lucian T. Hood, Jr. 1802 Sunset Blvd., 1951, David D. Red 40 Tiel Way, 1950, Wylie W. Vale; 1996, Design Collaborative (Kurt Aichler, S. Reagan Miller, and Stephen J. Engblom)

Here is a photo of the living room of a Walnut Bend version of your house. This was all the original decor the original owners placed in the house when they moved there in 1960. Notice the brick wall at the end of the foyer. It was a grill pattern and lighted from inside. The fixture was accessed thru the closet next to the foyer. After the original owner sold it to a flipper, it was unmercifully Home Depot-ized and later demolished and replaced with a large, formless mass.

I talked to a government employee that was overseeing a group of prisoners working at that fire station several weeks ago and he said the building was going to be repaired and reused for another purpose. He was very upset that I was photographing the building. He chased me from across the street from the fire station clear across to the far side of the gas station wanting to know what I was doing. He said prisoners were not allowed to be photographed. I told him I was in the street on public right of way and photographing public property that I pay taxes to support. He let me keep the pictures.

You can see other examples of this design in Walnut Bend which is located south of Memorial Bend, just across the bayou. They are in the south end, first section, of the neighborhood and built around 1960. It is suggested on the Memorial Bend website that these were designed by William Floyd and staff who designed most of the outstanding houses in Memorial Bend. The Memorial Bend website features some photos of these houses but is not presently accessible. There is another house like this currently for sale in Westbury at 5838 West Airport. The flat roof has unfortunately been altered on this example. 5838 West Airport

We made a special trip to see the open house at 4927 Yarwell on Sunday and it was not open. I think they have been attempting to sell this house for six months to a year. I guess they are not very serious. The new exterior paint scheme is acrid. It makes the place appear to be covered with thick green mold. I saw signs the place was previously painted electric blue and we have seen the old photos on HAR when it was white and brown. With the bright green of the winter rye grass and the similar monochrome greens of the other plant materials, there is no relief from green. Everything is yellow-green. Someone with bulimia may find staring at the front of the garage useful. HCAD lists the place as a two bedroom. Perhaps the converted garage has become the third bedroom shown on the current listing. I don't think garage conversions are very popular selling points. The swimming pool looks like it was built too high so they had to remove the decking to keep water from running into the house. It seems area drains have been installed so drainage may be an issue. Do agents take a class on naming things like the "Florida Style" sliding doors and "Malibu" pool to make them seem more appealing?

In 1966, 4819 Harrisberg was Sterling Laundry and Cleaning. Also on that block were Barton's Tire Service at 4801, Commercial Refrigeration at 4805, Neighborhood Appliance at 4809, Johnny's Used Cars at 4810, and Don't Forget It Lounge at 4814 Harrisburg Blvd. .

Yes, it's the original vent fan. I plan to remove my 1996 stainless steel vent hood and replace it with the original type like this one. It looks like they left the original cabinents but replaced the appliances, countertop and floor covering. The original kitchen looked nice. I like the extra wide window. I read that granite counters are now considered outdated and the current trend is quartz and basalt. Plastic laminate or 4" ceramic tiles would be most appropriate for this house.

The information above is from the Memorial Bend website and was also distributed at the Mod of the Month showing of this house. This house has some very interesting aspects. Have you noticed that when standing in the foyer near the front door, thanks to the mirrors, it appears that all three vaults are visible? Actually there are only two vaults in the living room and the third vault is in the dining room which is separated by a wall. It originally had a Sputnik style hanging light fixture in the dining room which was removed by a renter. The original exterior color scheme was vibrant aqua and black. Do you think the addition of the second garage has thrown off the proportions too badly? I think if the front of the house was well detailed, it would go far to hold your view so that the new garage would be less noticed. The 1966 city directory shows that Dr. John D. Reeve lived at 330 Electra and had first been listed at this address in the directory in the 1960 edition. He may have been the original owner.

Telephone prefixes from 1966 Houston city directory: CA - Capitol DI - Diamond FA - Fairfax GE - General GL - Glendale GR - Greenwood GY - Gypsy HI - Hickory HI - Hillcrest HO - Hobart HO - Homestead HU - Hudson HU - Hunter ID - Idlewood JA - Jackson MA - Madison ME - Melrose MI - Mission MO - Mohawk NA - National NE - Neptune NO - Northfield OL - Oldfield OL - Olive OR - Orchard OV - Overland OX - Oxford PA - Parkfield PR - Prescott RE - Republic RI - Riverside SK - Skyline SU - Sunset SW - Swift TW - Twilight UN - Underwood WA - Walnut

1966 and 1969 directory show J. Weingarten Inc. at 1100 Quitman

This house is discussed at: For Sale - the first house built in Memorial Plaza !, a Brodnax/Sawyer design! Price is now $199,500. Has it been reduced? It is along side West Belt. Just build a good tall CMU (cinder block) wall and cover it with thick vines on both sides, install a tall and rushing waterfall in the front and back yards, perhaps add some new windows, and it will make a nice architect designed mod home. It has the best public schools in Houston and a very low price for the area. All the houses in Memorial Plaza and Bend within about 500' of the toll road have considerable noise. This one is probably a bit worse due to the intersection, but many others are almost as bad, yet bearable.

1968- that must have been the year that the first addition was completed because, in the picture above, the lawn on the east front looks newly planted. HISD did a great job matching the new wing with the ugliness of the original building. You can hardly tell the difference. Then they added more on about 15 years later and it too is ugly. That school did not have one interesting feature or pleasant space. Many of the students took drugs to avoid some of the pain of the living hell that was life at Lee. Was this drug riot when the T. H. Rogers 9th grade student was killed with the baseball bat? His name was Randy Harvey and I think he had gone over to visit Lee when it happened. A terrible, terrible place and time.

David Crocket was a registered architect in the state of Texas. He was certified to practice architecture from 7-29-57 thru 2-28-94. His registration number is 2174. TBAE shows he is deceased and his last home was in Cypress, Texas.

I have often admired this house located at 12926 Memorial Drive since we moved into the area in 1968 and am very pleased to see it in such wonderful condition inside, especially considering its history. I remember this house sitting vacant for many years throughout much or all of the 1970

Joanne Johnson King Herring Davis still outshines them all. I have read she is invited to almost every major event throughout the world and is always the center of attention at each event she attends. Joanne King, pictured here in 2006, with Jane Curtin, Carolyn Farb, and Michelle Williams

What a wonderful collection of Astroworld history! They have park maps from almost every year and hundreds of photos along with a timeline, concert listings, and forum discussions. MODVILLE It seems like the new gaylord astrodome center would be even better if there was an amusement park across the street...