rps324 Posted May 23, 2006 Author Share Posted May 23, 2006 All that is old news now. The Braeswood one sold months ago, but is being redone. The Lars Bang one is still up, but they aren't selling it. The listings on Houston Mod have been down for months & months, that is why they are posted on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willowisp Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 There's a sign in the yard for no reason, I guess!As for the one on Braeswood, I pass that one quite a bit, and it looks to be getting a garage where the carport was. I guess you can't blame them for making that adjustment. But no telling on what else they are going to do to it.The reason I'm curious about Ayrshire, is that if we ever "move up a neighborhood" to something a little more expensive, I would love to move there. Also, I would love to live on Jackwood near S. Rice in one of the Parade Homes, like the Burdette Keeland... And there's one cool house on Willowgrove in Willow Meadows that I absolutely love, but I've never seen inside.The only way we will move though is if we realize we are never going to get a better soundwall from the city. I'm going to hold out hope for a few years though! Of course Ayrshire is RIGHT NEXT to the railroad tracks, so there's noise there too!It's like you told me Robert, once you live in a mod house you can't go back to anything else.JasonAll that is old news now. The Braeswood one sold months ago, but is being redone. The Lars Bang one is still up, but they aren't selling it. The listings on Houston Mod have been down for months & months, that is why they are posted on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rps324 Posted January 21, 2007 Author Share Posted January 21, 2007 They did put this one back up for sale again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 They did put this one back up for sale again. From the HAR page: "House sold in as-is condition. Oversized 13,000+ lot on cul-de-sac. priced at lot value. House is not considered livable and is requested not to be shown. The lot may be walked only if accompanied by an agent." The price is up about $100K from when this thread started; the McMansions on the street are now selling for nearly $900K. Pretty disgusting. I wonder how people will treat those ostentatious behemoths in another 30 years... HCAD lists the property as "economic misimprovement" which I gather means that it no longer fits with the neighborhood... the implication to me is that the neighbors think it devalues their properties. The improvement value in the 2005 appraisal was in the upper 70s and for 2006 it was down to 1000 (the total property value rose to match it). Details here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missjanel Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 From the HAR page: "House sold in as-is condition. Oversized 13,000+ lot on cul-de-sac. priced at lot value. House is not considered livable and is requested not to be shown. The lot may be walked only if accompanied by an agent."Previous listings state that sewer line has corrosion and leaking may have caused mold and mildew. I think that's why they consider that house is "not livable". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 this is something that i am going to label "house/real estate terrorism," or maybe "home-icide" (yeah, yeah)what a shame, though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willowisp Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 And the killer is that RPS may have had a buyer at one point a couple of years ago, but it just fell through.How will people look at the McMansions in 30 years? Who knows. Maybe they won't even last that long and will be demolished and replaced once again with whatever the next style trend is.home-icide is a great term. you need to trademark that.Jasonthis is something that i am going to label "house/real estate terrorism," or maybe "home-icide" (yeah, yeah)what a shame, though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texas911 Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 What sucks about this particular property is that its right next to the rail road tracks and pretty close to Houston's largest waste treatment plant to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abs1nthe Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 My wife dropped by the house today. We thought about buying it and renovating it. It looks like there is a contract on the house. My wife was lucky enough to run into the lady with the contract on the house. The lady said that they planned to try to save the house and that her husband is an architect. While I'm disappointed that I won't own the house, it looks like there's a possibility it might be saved! Let's keep our fingers crossed.My wife says the house is in bad shape, but it looks like it could be saved. If the option falls through I might put in an offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceAge Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 My wife dropped by the house today. We thought about buying it and renovating it. It looks like there is a contract on the house. My wife was lucky enough to run into the lady with the contract on the house. The lady said that they planned to try to save the house and that her husband is an architect. While I'm disappointed that I won't own the house, it looks like there's a possibility it might be saved! Let's keep our fingers crossed.My wife says the house is in bad shape, but it looks like it could be saved. If the option falls through I might put in an offer.This is excellent news. I think our collective positive thoughts about saving this house have succeeded. Initially, the place does look shabby but it has been sitting abandoned for two years. The inferior siding is a major distraction. That will all have to be replaced. Much of the trim details are still present so they can be saved or replicated with confidence they are correct. I can get the buyer a copy of the plans if needed. They will see that a window and some nifty details have been removed from the front. The plans also show which areas to paint darker and which to paint lighter. The roof may be good; I have not seen any leaks. There were two estimates on display there for replacing the sewer line under the slab. It seems like the estimates were $7-10,000. This is a necessary repair on any house over 50 years old. If they use a company like Du-West Foundations for the sewer line replacement, they can adjust the foundation on the southeast corner while there. The terrazzo floor is discolored only in one small area, possibly from excess slab moisture. The terrazzo can be repaired and polished to look beautiful again. The kitchen seems good, only needs the cabinets repainted, better floor covering, and possibly a new dishwasher. The kitchen cabinets seem original and the lighting is excellent. The boxed in area for the recessed florescent lighting under the upper cabinets is a nice detail as it produces a handy stair step for cabinet contents organization and display. The breakfast area has been reconfigured from the original laundry care center but seems to be more useful in its present form. The wall of cabinets may have been added and may need improvement. A larger patio off the breakfast room may be nice. The brick axis wall divides the more service oriented area from the dramatic living/dining patio.I believe the front door with deep set knob and escutcheon is original and should be fine after the French style moldings are removed. There was a mirror covering the entry wall until recently. It was not original but it made the space look expansive. The bathrooms are mostly original. The hall bath possibly has had the counter and basin replaced. The large aqua colored tiles in the master bath are not original. The planter boxes in both bathrooms, as well as the dining area, are features often found in houses designed by Lars Bang.The carport structure has an unusual detail. The wood ceiling rafters have about 20 feet or more to span and, as the style of the day dictated, the structure had to look as light and graceful as possible while still doing the job. A stiffener system composed of steel rods and brackets was devised to aid the slender members. Once these repairs are made, this will once again be an outstanding house. Lars Bang still speaks proudly of the letter he received from the Schulman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceAge Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 I just checked HAR to see if the listing for this house has sale pending yet. I can not believe the photos and comments the owner and agent have added to the listing. They will not give up their wish to destroy this house. The following (RPS- they used your photos) has been added to the listing on HAR: This was once a fabulous home but has been seriously neglected and the highest and best use is considered to be a tear down for a new home site. sorry! Uh-OH!! Lars Bang would flip out if he saw this coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jersey01 Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 I just checked HAR to see if the listing for this house has sale pending yet. I can not believe the photos and comments the owner and agent have added to the listing. They will not give up their wish to destroy this house.The following (RPS- they used your photos) has been added to the listing on HAR: This was once a fabulous home but has been seriously neglected and the highest and best use is considered to be a tear down for a new home site. sorry! Uh-OH!! Lars Bang would flip out if he saw this coming. Amazing. Obviously this agent has had people expressing concern and has a very unusual reaction. This is sort of disturbing, as if one could diagnose the listing as having bipolar disorder if it were possible. The listing "almost" reads as: Great Lars Bang house for sale. This house is a dump. It could be great. But probably not. The neighborhood is fantastic. Look at how great this house is. But...wait...wouldn't it be great if it were bulldozed. As a matter of fact, I'm not even going to let you inside to view. Oh, but here are some photos of what you cannot see...I mean, I must tease all of you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rps324 Posted January 27, 2007 Author Share Posted January 27, 2007 I'm glad he used the photos that show the house better, if it helped find someone that might save it, all the better. Whatever else one might say about the "sales pitch," I for one am not going to complain. It is, at least, a response to the home's architectural significance. It certainly beats the one Martha Turner did when they had it and didn't even consider it worthy of pictures at all. Space Age - don't you have some photos of a similiar Lars Bang house where the windows are not covered up with the siding, etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jersey01 Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 I'm glad he used the photos that show the house better, if it helped find someone that might save it, all the better. Whatever else one might say about the "sales pitch," I for one am not going to complain. It is, at least, a response to the home's architectural significance. It certainly beats the one Martha Turner did when they had it and didn't even consider it worthy of pictures at all.This is a good point. It is an odd approach but does at least recognize something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArchitectureEnthusiast Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Hello, My husband and I are buying the Lars Bang modern at 4135 Durness in Ayrshire. We found the house 9 months ago while driving around in the neighborhood. We called the number on the sign & found out it was not for sale. We followed up with a letter to the owner expressing interest in purchasing the property. They weren't interested in selling. We tried again at the beginning of this year--no luck. They ended up listing on MLS & we FINALLY took it Pending last week!My husband is an architect & I have a little real estate "flipping" business on the side (no mods though!) We plan to renovate & live in the house with our family. It will be a lot of fun to remodel this house to our taste (rather than to a client's or to what will sell to the masses). The house needs a fair amount of work--underground plumbing & foundation to start. I think the curb appeal can be improved with some interesting landscaping, replacing the rotten siding, & a decent paint job. The trees in the front are in bad shape (spanish moss & ball moss), and the approach to the front door is dark & uninviting. The master bath has a layout that doesn't work very well in this day & age. The front bedrooms get almost no natural light. I saw a post that said a window had been removed & I would be interested on the location (we think we know where it was). The living areas & back patio are this house's crowning glory! Overall, the house has a fantastic floorplan--requiring no modifications, except the master bath.My husband said that original plans are sometimes available at City Hall. Is that where the poster got them? We would love to get ahold of those!We were shocked to find this thread about "our" house last night. How exciting! We bought the property with the knowledge that we would have to live in it for a long time, because no one else would ever want to buy it. How great to find that other people appreciate modern architecture in Houston.We'd love to hear from anyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 ^ (shocked, stunned, happy) We're not used to news like that....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missjanel Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Congrats on your purchase. You'll get a warm welcome here. So let's cut to the chase when can we see pics? I love to live vicariously though other mod homeowners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shin'enKan Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 This is great news. I'm so pleased to see that your tenacity paid off, something that typically doesn't happen when trying to save these neglected mods. I'll be eagerly awaiting any news and pictures as your renovation takes off. This story must be a real shocker to the non-believing realtors! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jersey01 Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Finally a happy story! Hopefully this is a trend that will continue. Like everyone else who regularly pokes around here I would love to keep posted with stories and pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArchitectureEnthusiast Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 We would love to share pictures. Our scheduled close is Feb. 16th (who knows if paperwork can be in place for that). Then 2 weeks of underslab plumbing & foundation. I suspect we'll do the inside first & then move to the exterior. I want to get our family moved in pretty quickly so we don't have to carry 2 houses. I'm going to have get moving on pulling together the schedule :-) I would love to share pictures when we have some! We're also eager for input. Our goal is not so much to return it to is exact original state. We won't make major modifications, but I hope that it will appear to be modern for today & true to its roots. Such a difficult balance....Now we just have to sell our current house! Wish us luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rps324 Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 As of last year, the original blue prints were in the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Hello, My husband and I are buying the Lars Bang modern at 4135 Durness in Ayrshire. We found the house 9 months ago while driving around in the neighborhood. We called the number on the sign & found out it was not for sale. We followed up with a letter to the owner expressing interest in purchasing the property. They weren't interested in selling. We tried again at the beginning of this year--no luck. They ended up listing on MLS & we FINALLY took it Pending last week! ^ (shocked, stunned, happy) We're not used to news like that....... ^i'll echo danax's sentiments...! so often we see neat houses like yours in the demo permit stack thanks for finding the forum and keep us updated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 ^i'll echo danax's sentiments...! so often we see neat houses like yours in the demo permit stackthanks for finding the forum and keep us updated!any updates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenH Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Bump for updates. I heard this house was nearing completion. Any news? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willowisp Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 They live in the house now and it's beautiful. Could be in Atomic Ranch someday. I've been hoping for them to share some pictures here, but they have small children and are very busy.JasonBump for updates. I heard this house was nearing completion. Any news? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayzer Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 They live in the house now and it's beautiful. Could be in Atomic Ranch someday. I've been hoping for them to share some pictures here, but they have small children and are very busy.Jason Just came across this discussion and must add my elation to the pot. I'm sure they'll share when ready; they seem like nice folks and fully capable of an A-1 job in restoring this gem. I have fantasies of tearing down one of the "contemp" 1980s houses in my neighborhood and building a pavilion-type mod. That would shake things up around here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceAge Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 The owners of this house will receive the first Houston Mod Preservation Award today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyer Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 The owners of this house will receive the first Houston Mod Preservation Award today.Are there any updated photos of the house since the renovation/preservation?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 How can one tell who designs these mods? How does one find the name of the builder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willowisp Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 They seem to appreciate their privacy so no, probably not unless they come online and share it with us.As for how we know who designed any particular building. Unless a home was well published at the time of its being built, it takes lots of research to figure out the architect and/or builder. We try to find original owners or their families. So much of it is lost to history. We are trying to keep that history alive or bring it back to life. That's what this message board and Houston Mod is all about.Are there any updated photos of the house since the renovation/preservation?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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