The Farb Companies

[WillowBend56]

Are those properties still around Houston under that name?

[devonhart]

Are those properties still around Houston under that name?

From the little googling I did, Harold Farb Apartments still exist, but the sign is on the way out. Mr. Farb died at age 83, don't know if his apartments have much longer.

http://swamplot.com/last-of-the-harold-far...rap/2008-04-01/

Edited October 6, 2008 by devonhart

[memebag]

Last I saw, the Farb apartments on Braeswood near Belden's still have the famous silhouette. I've always wondered what he's holding. I once asked the folks in the management office there what he had in his hand. They didn't know. It looks like a cricket bat, but since then I've decided it's probably blueprints.

[sevfiv]

I remember visiting a friend who lived in the Nob Hill apartments off of N. Braeswood about 10-15 years ago and the silhouette was on some of the signs...

edit - yeah, those are the ones by Belden's:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...913991219219819

[foxmulder]

I remember visiting a friend who lived in the Nob Hill apartments off of N. Braeswood about 10-15 years ago and the silhouette was on some of the signs...

edit - yeah, those are the ones by Belden's:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...913991219219819

So what exactly did this man do? I stayed a few times with family @ the Broadway square apts.

[NenaE]

Last I saw, the Farb apartments on Braeswood near Belden's still have the famous silhouette. I've always wondered what he's holding. I once asked the folks in the management office there what he had in his hand. They didn't know. It looks like a cricket bat, but since then I've decided it's probably blueprints.

I vote for blueprints...nice to know other HAIFers who "wonder" like I do.

If he hadn't been in real estate, I would say a newspaper.

Edited October 6, 2008 by NenaE

[sevfiv]

Blueprints indeed:

The logo for the Farb Cos. — a silhouette of a businessman holding a rolled-up set of architectural plans — was seen throughout town.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/s...ty/4249976.html

http://houstonrealtor.har.com/DispArticle....RTICLE_ID=16651

[FilioScotia]

So what exactly did this man do? I stayed a few times with family @ the Broadway square apts.

Ask and ye shall receive. Everything that's worth knowing about the late great Harold Farb.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/s...ty/4249976.html

[memebag]

Blueprints indeed:

The logo for the Farb Cos.

[carol802]

How funny! I love this website! I was trying to remember the name of that "apartment chain". I lived in 4 or 5 of these in a span of 10 years in the early 70's through the early 80's, depending on where I worked. I sure knew exactly what I was getting. All the apartments were the exact same layout only mirror imaged. That set of blueprints he was holding in his sign was the point. He designed a very functional and basic apartment that fit middle incomes.

[Heights2Bastrop]

I lived in 4 different apartments at Napoleon Square from September of 1971, not long after I got out of the Navy. It was probably the hottest place in Houston to live at the time. Bonaparte

[TJones]

Just go over the railroad tracks at heading south on Chimney Rock and Westpark, about a quarter mile on the left, BOOM, you are in Farbville.

Edited December 8, 2008 by TJones

[e streeter]

harold farb were the apartments to live in during the 70's and early 80's. then when the oil bust hit houston in the mid 80's the apartments started to get rundown. i lived in nob hill when i moved back to houston in the early 90's, but moved out as soon as my lease was up. didn't feel safe there even though they had a security gate.

the other apartment complex that a lot of my friends moved into after college (i moved to dallas) was 5601 chimney rock. those were really nice, also had security gate and visitors had to sign in at the guarded gate.

it is sad how most of the apartments in the southwest area are so run down now. it seems like they all went south in the mid 80's and never recovered. too bad they can't tear them down and start over.

[dakotafleming]

Last I saw, the Farb apartments on Braeswood near Belden's still have the famous silhouette. I've always wondered what he's holding. I once asked the folks in the management office there what he had in his hand. They didn't know. It looks like a cricket bat, but since then I've decided it's probably blueprints.

bingo

[Specwriter]

I lived in two different apartments at Broadway Square in 1988-1989. Believe it or not they were very well maintained and managed. We moved to a rented house a few miles away in 1990 when our first child was born. Beginning almost immediately, and over the next few years, our occasional trips down Broadway to Hobby Airport showed us the rapid and deep decline of that complex. When we saw all the fences go up around the parking areas and the HPD storefront placed in one of the apartment units we knew how fortunate we had been to have moved out when we did.

Here is an example of how really well things were run just before it all went to Hell in a handbasket: One afternoon I noticed that the disposal in the kitchen sink was not working properly. I called the manager's office and reported it. Within thirty minutes a maintenace man was at the door. I let him in. He checked the disposal and with out saying another word left and came back with a brand new one which he proceeded to install over the next ten minutes. As he left he told me to call if there were any problems with the new disposal. About a half hour later the manager called me and asked if the repair had been affected and if I was satisfied with it. She did not ask and I did not have to tell her that the maintenance man was courteous, clean, and efficient.

How quickly things must have changed.