Swearengen

I contacted Narrow Larry and he said his photos were taken in September of 2000. His visit to the house was on an open tour of "unusual Houston area homes" put on by an Arts and Architecture group so there's a precedent of it being opened to the public occasionally. As far as he knows, it is still owned by Marilyn Oshman. A quick Google of her reveals she endowed the Orange Show when its owner died a few years ago and she is still very active in the Arts community and other charitable boards.

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.

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.

Apologies to Marilyn if she is still alive. I swear I read a column describing her life and mourning her passing.

EDIT: Maybe I had the wrong Marilyn Oshman....

http://www.exhibitci...ries&Itemid=113

As far as the current ownership is concerned, Marilyn may well be an officer of Mojo Holdings LLC. The State of Texas only lists Judy Oshman as the registered agent of the LLC.

The land deed at the Brazoria County clerks office is document number 2005063909 dated 11/8/2005 book OPR

Transferred from Judy Deanna Oshman and Barry Margolis to MOJO Holding LLC

The only thing I found on myspace.com was a guy who reposted Manda Clair Jost's (the architect's daughter) MOJO Relic YouTube video. The only recent pics are the ones by Narrow Larry mentioned in the Houston Press article in July.

Posted earlier by sheeats

Screen name Kody Kyle

http://viewmorepics....albumId=1172898

I really, really want to see the House of the Century. Recent threads and videos of it have re-kindled an interest in me for the house that started in the '70's when it was built and I first read about it. A friend and I drove down to Angleton on Saturday and you can't see the house from the road at all. It's possible that when the woods thin out in the winter months, a glimpse might become visible. Using GPS and Google Maps, we drove around a bit to see if maybe there was some access from the lake side, but no roads come even close. Presumably the house belongs to whomever (or what entity) owns the other house next to it with the long driveway but I'm not bold enough to just ring their doorbell. I just hate to see the house in decline, I would love to do whatever I can to preserve it.

Hi Scott08,

Why don't you give that phone number a call and say you are a freelance writer doing a story on the place, and see if you could setup a time to get pictures?

There is a guy on myspace.com in Angleton that has a picture of himself standing on top of one of the lower rooms. Search myspace.com for "MOJO Relic" and you should be able to pull his profile up. He says he has a friend that knows the caretaker and they let them in.

I may have to break down and call the number myself. I'm getting a bit too old for crawling through barbed wire just for pics at the risk of getting arrested, but seeing this place is driving me nuts!

Thanks for the update...

Al

My friend Brittanie Shey wrote an amazing article about the "House of the Century" today:

http://blogs.houston...etons_myste.php

I had no idea it even existed. Looks like very few people do. This photo gallery is fascinating:

http://www.narrowlarry.com/nltx6.html

Has anyone been out to it? I'm seriously contemplating a little road trip out there now...landmines and barbed wire or not.

The plot of land the house sits on was referred to as "William Parker League" as identified on a map commisioned by the county around 1913 to map lands west of Angleton to the Brazos river.

On May 10, 1968 the deed to the land was registered at the Brazoria County Clerks office in document 1968007102, book 1001, page 134 as belonging to Marilyn and Judy Oshman. Marilyn and Judy are the daughters of the famous Jake Oshman of sporting goods retail fame.

Marilyn married Alvin Lubetkin and commisioned the house from Ant Farm as a weekend retreat. Since the house wasn't really functional, it had no air conditioning and you couldn't open the windows, not much time was spent there.

The house was flooded in 1985 and in an interview Chip Lord said the Lubetkins threw in the towel. From there it supposedly sat in ruins, overgrown and falling apart, with potential plans to refurb the place. The google satellite photo does not show that kind of neglect however.

Marily passed a few years ago and in 2005 the deed to the land passed from Judy Oshman and her husband at the time Barry, to MOJO Holdings LLC in 2005. The Texas Secretary of state lists the registered agent of MOJO Holdings LLC as Judy Oshman-Margolis.

MOJO Holdings LLC

23920 FM 521 RD

Angleton, TX 77515

979-848-1319

That address maps to the address on Cheenango Lake, aka Congo Loko, a man made lake right off 521 barely south of CR 45 in Angleton. I suspect that MOJO Lake was the nickname the owners gave it using their initials. (M)arilyn (O)shman (J)udy (O)shman. Can't prove that but it makes sense.

Take 288 south from Houston to Angleton. Once you pass the 288B exit start watching for CR 45 on your right. There is a park-n-ride on the corner. Turn right on CR 45 and the road dead-ends into 521. Turn left on 521 and you should see a driveway on your right soon after that. You can crawl along the right shoulder for a ways but in the summer it's hard to see through the wooded overgrowth.

Sure would be nice if one of you guys could buy the place up and fix it, or at least get on the land for recent pics and an interview. Richard Jost and Chip Lord are not returning my emails.

Good luck, and thanks for your posts!

Al S.