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Glenbrook Valley Historic District Designation


rps324

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Thanks for the photos, Robert. They look a lot like Westbury is Southwest Houston. I think both neighborhoods must have been built at the same time, maybe even by the same builder. What are the prices, schools, crime rate like there? Westbury is at bargain-basement prices these days.

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Thanks for the photos, Robert. They look a lot like Westbury is Southwest Houston. I think both neighborhoods must have been built at the same time, maybe even by the same builder. What are the prices, schools, crime rate like there? Westbury is at bargain-basement prices these days.

Westbury and Glenbrook have their similiarities, but they are very different also. I think Westbury is more known and has seen a lot of people move in that were priced out of the inner loop. In my opinion, for what thats worth, Westbury is farther along on the renovation/gentrification process at this point.

Glenbrook is still not as well known. It is a quicker trip to downtown & the universities. They were definitely different developers from Westbury, but a similiar time period. Back in the 50's Glenbrook was considerably more elite than Westbury. Home prices were in the $25 - $35k range in 1954 in Glenbrook. Glenbrook was more comparable to Meyerland. Houses in the most expensive sections in the North of the neighborhood easily ranged from 3000 - 4000 square feet, with some homes approached 5000 sq ft. In addition, these homes were built on large, hilly lots. Most of the homes were custom built with each person having their own architects, builders, etc. Westbury has more of a repetition of the same floorplan, etc. You don't have that in Glenbrook.

Of course fortunes have changed over time. If memory serves, I think Westbury on average is about $75 -$80 per square foot, last time I checked. Glenbrook is around $60. (Which is an increase from about $40 psf in '98, according to Crawford Realty Advisors.) Every now and then there is an estate sale or foreclosure that you can pick up for a real song. The public schools are now pretty much filled with students from the neighboring apartment complexes. I am not sure the exact crime statistics. The Northern part of Glenbrook has the nicest houses. I guess Westbury is similiar in that respect.

To give you an idea of what you can get in Glenbrook, there are two on Stony Dell, a fabulous cul de sac with these hilly lots. One is over 3000 sf with a pool, it has a hokey kitchen and needs some work, but a great lot. $189,900. The other is a California contemporary around 3300 sf. Diamond-matched teak panelling in the entry, redwood eaves all around, cedar siding. Formals with a drop ceiling and recessed lights, retro suspended cabinets in the kitchen, a huge master suite with a sitting area, a HUGE bonus room above the garage, Big den with vaulted ceiling and fireplace, Huge lot, 1-owner with no bad Home depot updates to contend with, for $165,000. It does need some leveling, but at $49 psf, you could do a lot of updates.

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One other example, if you look on the photo page on the web site, 3rd row, far right, the FANTASTIC boomerang shaped mod, all original. That little jewel sold in September for $116,000. I am HOPING to someone that "gets it" when it comes to mods. I had shown the house to a couple of pretty well known designers in town that wanted it. It sold before either made a move on it. It has got to be one of the better original mods in town. The one on the top row, far right, (I need to numer these!) sold for around $130k, and the teal and lava stone one with the garage tucked underneath (with a pool) sold for $152k earlier this year.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I added copies of an article from a 1954 Better Homes & Gardens on the "home for all America" to the glenbrook web-site. The local home was built there in Glenbrook on Glenview. Pg 75 lists other places in Texas where the built the same house, (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Tyler) as part of the national promotion. It is under its own separate tab since it is a larger file. The pictures are great!

1954 Better Homes & Gardens

(added link - dbigtex56)

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Thanks for the photos, Robert. They look a lot like Westbury is Southwest Houston. I think both neighborhoods must have been built at the same time, maybe even by the same builder. What are the prices, schools, crime rate like there? Westbury is at bargain-basement prices these days.

I have lived in Glenbrook Valley for almost 3 years now. I love it. I can't speak to the schools as I don't have children. It's a wonderful little pocket of mod fun close to downtownn with an active civic club working hard to keep the neighborhood up.

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I have lived in Glenbrook Valley for almost 3 years now. I love it. I can't speak to the schools as I don't have children. It's a wonderful little pocket of mod fun close to downtownn with an active civic club working hard to keep the neighborhood up.

I have a friend who has lived there for several years too. She told me of a family that moved in a few years back, they were African-American and they had a couple of teenage boys that began to make trouble on their otherwise peaceful street; I can't remember exactly what it was, noise in the streets, recruiting other kids to form a little posse, maybe selling drugs, something along those lines. The civic club told congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who apparently owns a house there.

With amazing swiftness, several days, these people was GONE, never to be seen again.

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I have met the current Civic Club President, Gale. She is the one that gave me copies of the Parade of Homes brochure. She is really nice and apparently very diplomatic in her dealings with deed restriction violations and such. I know they are working on enforcement more.

I'm sure there is more to the story about "the vanishing family", the "short version" does make it sound a little like John Ashcroft was running the nieghborhood!...

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Maybe this should be a separate thread, "when good mods go bad!" One shows a promising exterior, but the back suffers from cancerous additions that have turned the main living area into an interior room with little natural light. Of course there is always the front doors... IMG_0070.jpgIMG_0071.jpgIMG_0073.jpg

Then there is one of the old Parade of Homes houses,Then and now, no explanation necessary....

Scan1.jpgIMG_0137.jpg

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This one, in Memorial Bend, is about to get a serious hackjob. It really bums me out... it's a house designed by Lars Bang. The new owner has put in the worst possible landscaping (crap everywhere with no rhyme or reason), added a traditional iron gate around the house and is about to hack it up into a hideous house. Sad...

423ele.jpg

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I feel your pain. That's a classic house. The more knowledgeable one becomes about historic architecture, the more searing the pain when the unknowing/uncaring owners start modifying.

I live in an area over on the EastEnd (Pecan Park) where the homes are from the 30s & 40s, simple houses but with nice, historic touches. It's very disheartening to me to see some of the original items get trashed every month for Home Depot or Lowe's gar-bage. I tell myself that most of the modifications are reversible, it's just a matter of getting some new people over here that are a little more sensitive and educated.

I have considered your idea of a house to house catalog, although these homes were never cutting edge or anything, hopeful that it might inspire people around here to appreciate the era that their home's style represents, and have done some preliminary research at the Ideson.

Unfortunately, I feel like I'm wasting my time, as most folks around here's sense of history goes back about as far as the last soap opera episode....sigh.

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This one, in Memorial Bend, is about to get a serious hackjob.  It really bums me out... it's a house designed by Lars Bang.  The new owner has put in the worst possible landscaping (crap everywhere with no rhyme or reason), added a traditional iron gate around the house and is about to hack it up into a hideous house.  Sad...

423ele.jpg

Does the deed restrictions in Memorial Bend provide any relief from this sort of mod abuse? Is there anything in the restrictions regarding additions/modifications?

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The 54 parade of homes and 54 Better homes and gardens house in Glenbrook is getting a, um, "facelift".... ala Home Depot.  The owner has decided the long low windows should go in favor of double hung paned ones.

I somehow vaguely assumed that these 50s "Mod" houses, now that they have become recognized as representing a historically unique style, would avoid the fate of homes of previous eras, so many of which were bulldozed and altered insensitively. Apparently, I was dreaming.

Someone at least needs to point out to her that those windows need to be saved, if not on the house, then stored for someone who might want to undo her damage later on.

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I somehow vaguely assumed that these 50s "Mod" houses, now that they have become recognized as representing a historically unique style, would avoid the fate of homes of previous eras, so many of which were bulldozed and altered insensitively. Apparently, I was dreaming.

Someone at least needs to point out to her that those windows need to be saved, if not on the house, then stored for someone who might want to undo her damage later on.

That particular one, to me at least, does have some potentially historic qualities, being both a '54 parade home & one of the original homes in the neighborhood, as well as the whole BH&G thing. The whole inside has been gutted. It sits on a spectacular ravine lot. It is a shame.

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I somehow vaguely assumed that these 50s "Mod" houses, now that they have become recognized as representing a historically unique style, would avoid the fate of homes of previous eras, so many of which were bulldozed and altered insensitively. Apparently, I was dreaming.

Someone at least needs to point out to her that those windows need to be saved, if not on the house, then stored for someone who might want to undo her damage later on.

Oh Danax, about those old windows...

The people moving out of the house next door, (the recipitron house) were out on the driveway pulling the windows out of the trash heap. Then ripping them apart to sell the scrap aluminum.

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  • 2 weeks later...
This one, in Memorial Bend, is about to get a serious hackjob.  It really bums me out... it's a house designed by Lars Bang.  The new owner has put in the worst possible landscaping (crap everywhere with no rhyme or reason), added a traditional iron gate around the house and is about to hack it up into a hideous house.  Sad...

423ele.jpg

I drove past this the other day, tragic. The clutter, the fence & gate. What a disaster.

Now that Memorial Bend is 50 years old, does it qualify to be designated a historic district and come under the district guidelines? (weak as they are). Possibly that could help. People just don't get looking at these era homes thru the lense of preservation.

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Does this neighborhood flood? Has it flooded?

Dream

It used to be a bigger issue, limited to the couple of blocks right next to Sims Bayou. A few years back they did a huge project on the bayou, even bulldozing a couple of the houses to widen the bayou. this cut out a lot of the problem. There is a small section that it can still be an issue where they built some houses down into a ravine.

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713158.JPG

Me likey that one. It has some promise for a renovation that wouldn't ruin its heritage.

Noting wrong with bringing mid-cent-mods into the 21st cent is there?

Sharpstown is full of these kinds of homes. Geez, I sound like a broken record don't I.

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Wow, whoever remodeled this mod really knew what they were doing! This is nice! I wonder if they have thought about starting a business, going around and falsely advertising home renovation when they're really selling home butchery..  <_<

Seriously, this looks like ____. I'll say it again, children - uncover your ears because this is worth hearing: Whoever renovated this house did a shitty job and should be fined for excessive use of bad taste. :angry:

Shame on whoever did this. SHAME!

Glen

Wow. That is hideous. That looks like a third world rebuild after the tsunami wiped out the lumber yard and they had to salvage pieces from other wrecked homes.

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