Scott08

I'm kind of late to the party. My area North Norhill already has deed restrictions which as I understood it in the past do a better job of policing demos and inappropriate construction with or without a historic designation. However, I am NOT for the newly passed ordinance. Is there anyone on this board from my area who is aware of a petition drive for our neighborhood?

I have to laugh. Took a bike ride around the Heights area yesterday and anecdotally at least 80% of the Anti-Walmart blue signs I saw were in yards of recent construction McVics and townhouses. So the pariahs of the Historic District's pros are now protesting the pariahs of the retail business. Who says this isn't about classism?

Late to the party, but my two cents. I had used O'Connor successfully for around five years. Each year they either got a reduction, or at least kept my value from increasing. Then late in 2009, when it was too late for any appeals, I get their letter and HCAD references that my property had shot up over 30% in value! A call to O'Connor was useless and they had no answer as to why an increase over the allowable 10% was allowed to pass without even letting me know. It took a bit of digging but HCAD finally told me it was because of the "major remodel" my house had. But I didn't. The only work done on my house over the years I have owned it has been maintenance, replacing things as they wear out, etc. I immediately fired O'Connor (and yet they still keep sending me letters asking me to come back) and managed to get a hearing at HCAD where I could only protest the "procedural errors" rather than the value itself. That hearing failed and I was stuck with the higher taxes for 2009. This year I did due diligence and prepared to protest myself after they went up ANOTHER 10%. I got paperwork from the City of Houston showing that I'd had no permits pulled since adding AC in 2000, got comps both recent and current, printed out the appraisals from my own block which were all over the map, and lastly took pictures showing both the improvements and the flaws of my home. The informal hearing was a joke, the woman barely glanced at anything I had brought. At the formal hearing, I came very prepared and lucked out and got a great committee. They listened intently, looked at my pictures, then all eyes turned to the HCAD appraiser there. He asked a few questions and stated that it was obvious that the improvements I have made do not a "major remodel" make. I had it reduced from $216K to $185K (it was around $150ish before this started) so I got it back in line to where it should have been. I'll do it myself from now on.

Wow, thank you for that information and link. Following the links shows that the house is still for sale at $1,495,000, not too outrageous at all by LA standards. Same realtor also has a Neutra and a FLW for sale. The movie makes great use of its interiors, fully furnished in vintage chic, and almost a character itself. You don't see nearly as much of the exterior, I'm guessing that they wanted to "disguise" its immediate surroundings somewhat.

Anyone seen the recent movie "A Single Man." It's set in 1962 and features a very cool mod house in Los Angeles. Colin Firth's main character mentions that's it's "in the canyon," presumably Laurel, and that his deceased partner "was an architect." I don't think it was a set, it looked too real and too detailed to be anything other than a true location shot. Didn't see anything in the credits but wondering if the house has any pedigree or simply another of the numerous cool LA homes of the era.

As was rumored on Saturday, looks like the Merry house has gone to "option pending" on HAR. Maybe I just don't have the proper amount of vision, but I thought the house was kind of blase. The exterior has some nice MCM queues and the house has a nice presence on its smallish lot, but the inside was pretty dark and other than the big fireplace, kind of conventional looking in general. I also visited Ben's house (thanks for showing us around) and I think it had a better, more light, floorplan to begin with. He's done a great job of modernizing it while keeping its character intact. With the Merry house's concrete construction, I would think it would be cost prohibitive to really change the bones of the house too much, i.e. move walls. I suspect it's likely that the potential buyer chose it for the neighborhood and price first, and style second. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Cosmo Dentristy on Studewood at 20th. Small, fairly recently opened practice. My dentist is Dr. Michelle Lam. Very personable doctor and staff, they schedule my visits to make the most of my rather crappy dental plan. No frills, just good work.

I enjoyed meeting a couple of Modders at the Ames house on Sunday. I heard of that house several years ago when I first got on this forum and had driven by a couple of years ago to see it. I really like its current state. We noticed a couple of small flaws but for the most part it looks to be in good mechanical/structural shape, and I think the remodelling has been a tasteful update that modernizes the house without denying its heritage. The house's biggest deterrent is its location, if it was in one of Houston's closer in, more well known mod areas, it would sell quickly. A man from the neighborhood told me there is only other modern style house in the subdivision, he was there just to ogle like many open house patrons are. I looked over HCAD records, as well as talking to a realtor friend of mine, and it looks like one family had the house since the 80's, then sold it in 2006 and the current owner bought if for a song just a few months ago. Not sure if it was purely to be flipped, or a case of lost interest, but now it's back into the jungle of a depressed real estate market. I hope it finds a good owner, if I was closer to retirement age, I might be willing to give up my 15 minute commute to live in it, but it's too isolated in suburbia for me.

To those of you who don't "get" the House of the Century, let me reiterate what I said in an earlier post:

Watching the YouTube videos about the house, it's clear that the Ant Farm Collective was way ahead of its time. They took pictures and films of the whole process, building the house was as much performance art as architecture. In some ways, I think it was always meant to be an artistic statement, a sculpture, as much or more than a house. That only fascinates me more. Just as many mod fans wax nostalgically about the 50's and 60's vibe that MCM's generate, this house to me evokes the time period post Vietnam era, where the "hippies" were struggling to make a new future. I happened to be in high school/college during that time frame so it really stands out for me.

This house may not be your style...hell it really wasn't practical for anything...but it's got pedigre (famous/infamous art/architecture designers), history documented by pictures, video, and now a movie, ownership by someone fairly prominent. All those things make it important whether its aesthetics appeal to you or not. I agree with another poster that if the owner decided to offer tours of it, it would become quite an attraction.

I went to Fallingwater in the summer of 2006. We got there about a half hour before it opened (10 I think)and still had to wait about an hour to get in. The basic tour is in groups of around eight and takes about an hour. You are NOT allowed to take pictures inside the house, rationale being they don't want anyone accidentally tripping over something not watching what they are doing. The basic tour takes you to most rooms and levels, the guesthouse, and then ends in with a short film about the Pennsylvania Conservancy in what was once the garage. As you are headed back to the Visitor's Center, there is a designated area for you to photograph the house's most famous exposure with the waterfall pouring out of it. I loved it. Although there has been restoration work throughout its history which the docent explains, for the most part it is original, with some flaws rather than museum perfect. It was all the more amazing to me that it was built in such a remote area so long ago. Something I missed by not leaving enough time was visiting the other FLW house in the area. Kentuck Knob is only about 10 miles away, and while less stunning and famous than FW, I would have liked to have seen it too. I hope to return someday for both.

Surprised to see this still here. The owner started a thread around a year ago when it was first listed, then I think it dropped off for a while, perhaps a sale didn't go through. What constitutes "plenty of work?"

The irony of the Woodlands to me is that most people who choose to live there go because they're trying to get away from what they perceive as crime-ridden, congested areas. As the area has built out, new residents have brought the problems with them so to speak. I went to a Christmas party there this past weekend, first off I45 was almost completely closed by an accident for 3 hours, once past that, the traffic on major arteries through the Woodlands was just as bad. I too like the more forested look over say Katy, but other than that, it's just like every other burb to me, for better or worse.

This is probably old news, but the house on Glen Cove is gone. Rode by there on my bike Saturday and a crew is doing the preliminary work on a new Tuscan/Mc/GIANT house. Some consolation is that there is a brand new modern house nearing completion when you first pull onto the street from Memorial. It's the very first house on the left backing up to the Hogg Bird Sanctuary on Westcott. Lots of stone, wood, and glass on the back. I'm afraid to see what gets built on the old lot.

Note to mods: Is there any way the posts about the House of the Century could be peeled off of the original thread and given their own title/thread? We might find out even more about it if it wasn't hidden in another thread. Thanks.

Wow. Deja Vu. Thanks.

All of you interested in The House of the Century are going to kick yourselves--Chip Lord and Curtis Schreier (two of the surviving founders of Ant Farm) were just in town for the Cinema Arts Festival, which showed a documentary about Ant Farm called What If Why Not. Marilyn Oshman was at the screening and they all answered questions.

This is a house that should definitely be renovated and preserved and opened to the public!

I was aware of that and unable to attend that night, wish I'd been able to make it.

You are awesome with the googling Marmer, that is exactly it. It was just it and the corner house at East Kentucky that had yellow tape in front of them. The local guy did not know the exact scope of the new development so it's possible that the mod house is safe...but my guess is it's both lots.

I wish I had taken pictures. Didn't have my camera with me and didn't get a chance to go by again before leaving town.

Per Swamplot (www.swamplot.com), the following Post-War Modern home is slated for demolition -- this one is a doozy:

http://har.com/HomeV...m?MLNUM=3419461

Modified over the years with neo-classic elements but the buildings origins remain present. Impressive.

Amazing that someone would tear down such a cool house and one that looks to be in fine shape. Even more amazing that people consider $3.5M properties a teardown. Wow.

I was in Ruston, Louisiana this past weekend for a bike race. It's in the north part of the state east of Schreveport, very pretty with rolling terrain and lots of woods. I was taking the scenic route back to my motel one morning along State Hwy 146 north of I-20. There's a couple of miles of grand old homes, mostly Southern Colonials set back from the road on 5 acre-ish sized lots. As I came up to the next major intersection I spotted a beautiful flat roofed mod set back in the woods, one house down from the crossroad. The thing that bothered me was there was lots of yellow caution tape along its lotline and the house at the corner. I asked the local race director and he said those houses were being demo'ed for a "modern multi-use area," in other words another strip-center. I wish I knew more of the back story, it was probably built originally by someone very prominent in the town.

Welp. It sucks, but it is their right if its their easement, and I could see how doddering city or county officials could feel like they were being shouldered with more maintenance cost.

Also: Anyone have status on the bridge? Is it done? Biketoberfest is tomorrow...

There's a lot of internal wrangling going on over the cyclocross issue. HCFCD only "owns" a couple of small parcels of the land involved and the race was routed to go around them. Securing an easement from the City of Houston "probably" does not allow the holder to enforce no trespassing. My hope is that the media gets ahold of this and makes them look silly for stopping something that is only enhancing the area and the city's image. (BTW, the City of Houston Cycling Director has supported this from the start.) Meanwhile, the bridge will not be done in time but Biketoberfest is still on:

BiketoberFest is this Saturday, October 3rd from 12-6 at Blue Line Bike Lab, 3302 White Oak. Pyramid Beer will be supplying the beer and Watermill Express will be supplying the water. This is family-friendly event. It is also a fund-raiser for Bike Houston. $5 buys you a BiketoberFest cup and Pyramid will fill it with beer. There will also be hotdogs & veggie dogs for sale. The Whiskey Saints will be playing, so bring some dancing shoes. There will be helmet checks to see if your helmet is fitted properly. Blue Line will also be having Goldsprint Races. Goldsprints are races on stationary bikes & rollers. Bring some extra money to buy a raffle ticket. We will be raffling off gift certificates for local restaurants, bike bags & a Pyramid Beer bike. It will be a great day. Let’s see just how many bikes we can get in the Heights at one time.

If you haven’t heard, the Hike & Bike Trail will not open that day. The bridge across the bayou needs more work. The trail opening will be 12/19. Please forward this to your Heights friends, biking friends, beer-loving friends & most of all, fun-loving friends.

Check out the interior of the Big Mamou restaurant on Studewood. The owner turned the shiplap over as suggested, left it exposed and stained in the main dining room. Looks good I think.

I live in North Norhill and am aware of several nearby houses that had second levels added on top of the original house. I think if done right, it's a good way to add needed square footage without having to move or build a McMansion monstrosity. A few years back I looked into adding a 3rd bedroom and 2nd bath as a second floor of my house. A local contractor who did a similar job two streets over gave me an estimate of $55000. That was to basically add a few more piers under the house for extra strength, building out the existing attic with dormers on each side to add windows and a more square shape, and keeping the finishes pretty basic. The only change to the first floor was moving one non-load bearing wall to make room for a stairwell. I ended up not doing it but thought it was a very fair price for what would almost surely add that much value or more to my home. Lifting the whole house in your case sounds expensive.

Seems like a pretty low maintenance, if that $330 is accurate...

Not to highjack, but when I was looking at townhouse/condos a couple of years ago (changed my mind) I would have dismissed one with a fee that high without even looking at it. Many, if not most, of the newer "fee simple" townhouses have no fees, or much smaller ones that pay for less things than the older complexes. $330 a month spent on mortgage gets a lot more house.

My USPS service in the 009 zip code is excellent. The regular carrier is very friendly and seems to know who on his route is on vacation, etc. I've had him come knocking on my door to deliver a package that needs to be signed for later in the day from when he first came by. I've been able to pick up undeliverd packages by knocking on the side door of the post office as early as 6:30 in the morning. No complaints here.

PS: I recently ordered something that was shipped via Fedex/USPS combo. May be common but first time I'd ever seen it. There was a gap from when Fedex "delivered" it the main post office and when it made it to my mailbox of about three days.

I'd like to say I raced the cyclocross last night but at my pace, it was really just "I rode around the course with the other guys and girls." The city bike coordinator has been helping with this behind the scenes and the hope is the bridge will be finished and opened by next Saturday when a full day's festivities are planned to celebrate the completion of the bike path.