Houses In Hilshire Village And Spring Valley

[RWB]

I just popped up a post on a street-by-street exploration of Hilshire Village and part of Spring Valley on my blog. http://robertwboyd.blogspot.com/

Readers of this forum will be really interested in the houses in Hilshire Village. I only took photos of a small proportion of the many mod houses there--it's definitely worth a trip.

[Willowisp]

I just popped up a post on a street-by-street exploration of Hilshire Village and part of Spring Valley on my blog. http://robertwboyd.blogspot.com/

Readers of this forum will be really interested in the houses in Hilshire Village. I only took photos of a small proportion of the many mod houses there--it's definitely worth a trip.

The mod on the corner of Glourie belongs to Edward Davis, a long time Houstonian architect. He designed the house himself, I believe in 1968. That house will be up on the website at some point soon. There are some other MCMs in that area.

Cool blog and great idea with the maps and all.

Jason

[missjanel]

The victorian looking house on the corner of Wirt and Bellewood was built in 2001. Although I agree, the owner put lot of effort into the house to make it look period correct.

The house built in 1945 is across the street. It has been on the market for a long time and can be seen on HAR.com at

www.har.com/4775217

[KatieDidIt]

The victorian looking house on the corner of Wirt and Bellewood was built in 2001. Although I agree, the owner put lot of effort into the house to make it look period correct.

The house built in 1945 is across the street. It has been on the market for a long time and can be seen on HAR.com at

www.har.com/4775217

I notice the new construction and teardown to rebuild has slowed down a lot over there since the Freeway started expanding. Quite a few nice ones are still sitting unsold since we were looking, which is over 8 months ago.

[RWB]

Thanks for the info--I've corrected my blog to reflect it!

[sevfiv]

Great posting/blog.

Once i get things up and running i'll be able to sort my demo lists by neighborhood, zip code, etc.

It seems like a large concentration of demolitions are still happening in Brykerwoods/Hilshire, and more toward 8 in Wilchester, Memorial Plaza, etc (but mostly south of 10)

[KatieDidIt]

Great posting/blog.

Once i get things up and running i'll be able to sort my demo lists by neighborhood, zip code, etc.

It seems like a large concentration of demolitions are still happening in Brykerwoods/Hilshire, and more toward 8 in Wilchester, Memorial Plaza, etc (but mostly south of 10)

There are two demos right now on Apple Tree, WIlchester, that will be rebuilt for 1.2 and 1.3. Yorkshire won't let you demo. You can gut and build within the old walls, add a new facade and add on a bigger garage but that's it. Unless you have a huge enviromental problem, you can't razz. I don't really understand the point of it because so many of the remodeled ones look totally out of place in the neighborhood anyway. Texas Hill Country on the Bayou...woohoo, not.

Edited January 18, 2008 by KatieDidIt

[Scott08]

I don't really understand the point of it because so many of the remodeled ones look totally out of place in the neighborhood anyway.

That's the whole rub of McMansions and their like. They NEVER look appropriate and yet there seems to be lots of misguided folks who think GIANT equals grand, never mind the pseudo-style.

[marmer]

Great job again, Robert! Thanks so much for your photos and commentary.

[G-man]

I just popped up a post on a street-by-street exploration of Hilshire Village and part of Spring Valley on my blog. http://robertwboyd.blogspot.com/

Readers of this forum will be really interested in the houses in Hilshire Village. I only took photos of a small proportion of the many mod houses there--it's definitely worth a trip.

RWB, thanks for the excellent post! I live in the area that you explored (near the intersection of Westview and Bingle), so I found the blog entry and photos most interesting. In fact, I think that I may have actually seen you attaching your bike to the front of the bus at the bus stop on Westview (it was the first time that I had noticed anyone doing this, so I took note as drove by). In any case, here are a few comments:

1) In addition to the zip code statistics that you cite, here are the rankings of the Villages by 2000 per capita income as well as their rank among the wealthiest places in Texas [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_locatio...r_capita_income ] :

2. Piney Point Village city, Texas $97,247

4. Hunters Creek Village city, Texas $88,821

5. Bunker Hill Village city, Texas $86,434

9. Hilshire Village city, Texas $66,620

20. Hedwig Village city, Texas $52,153

34. Spring Valley city, Texas $44,912

One notes that Hilshire actually has a higher per capita income than Hedwig Village south of I-10. For point of comparison here are:

8. West University Place city, Texas $69,674

13. Southside Place city, Texas $57,021

26. Bellaire city, Texas $46,674

2) I too have wondered how all the individual villages came about, but all that I know was that there was an attempt to incorporate all of Spring Branch in the 50s before if could be annexed by Houston, but somehow this failed and the result was the creation of the 6 villages in 1955. I have no idea how the individual boundaries among them came into being.

3) Also, interesting observation about the short street names in Spring valley. I hadn't thought about it before, but one does notice that a good many of the streets are named for the German families that originally settled the area - Wirt, Moritz, Pech, Burkhart, Witte, Sauer, etc. Westview hs originally named Hartenholm. Some descendants of these families still live in the area. By the way, the foot bridge on Pech is over Spring Branch Creek, not Hunters Creek.

4) Most of the houses featured in your photos I've seen before, but it was great that you found the mod houses at Pine Creek and Westview. Not many folks know that they're there, and the one that came on to the market in the 5 years that I've lived in the area went very quickly. And even though they have small front yards, some of them have very large back yards. And I love that pueblo style house on Hilshire Green! It was on the market when I first moved into the area, and I considered buying it.

5) And finally, I haven't noticed any slowing of the tear down trend in the area. As prices have risen in Brykerwoods (one new home was on the market there recently for $2,000,0000!), there has been some shift to Glenmore Forest, Monarch Oaks and Spring Oaks along Westview, where new or remodeled homes tend to go for $750,000 to 1 million. One should note that in addition to single family homes being replaced in Spring Valley and Hilshire Village themselves, apartment complexes and other structures are being torn down along their peripheries for patio home/townhouse communities:

http://www.naihouston.com/news/?p=213

In any case, I greatly enjoyed your review of architecture in the Spring Valley/Hilshire Village area, as it seems that many in Houston don't realize that we're here! On second thought, that might not be such a bad thing.

G

Edited January 21, 2008 by G-man

[RWB]

G-Man:

Thanks for all the fantasic informaton! I will have to include it in the post (which seems to be in constant evolution because of all the feedback I've gotten from informed readers like yourself.)

In fact, I think that I may have actually seen you attaching your bike to the front of the bus at the bus stop on Westview (it was the first time that I had noticed anyone doing this, so I took note as drove by).

Nope, that wasn't me--I took the 77 on Memorial.

1) In addition to the zip code statistics that you cite, here are the rankings of the Villages by 2000 per capita income as well as their rank among the wealthiest places in Texas [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_locatio...r_capita_income ] :

2. Piney Point Village city, Texas $97,247

4. Hunters Creek Village city, Texas $88,821

5. Bunker Hill Village city, Texas $86,434

9. Hilshire Village city, Texas $66,620

20. Hedwig Village city, Texas $52,153

34. Spring Valley city, Texas $44,912

One notes that Hilshire actually has a higher per capita income than Hedwig Village south of I-10. For point of comparison here are:

This makes perfect sense. Hedwig Village, unlike Piney Point, Hunter's Creek, Bunker Hill or Hilshire, has apartments in addition to single family dwellings. It really comes down to zoning, as far as I can tell.

By the way, the foot bridge on Pech is over Spring Branch Creek, not Hunters Creek.

Doh! OK, that makes sense and I will correct it. I have to say the maps I use (the Key Map, Google, and MSN Live Search Maps) are really unhelpful when it comes to names of natural features. So I guess a lot. Fortunately, Houston doesn't have that many natural features! But if anyone knows a resource online that gives correct names for Houston creeks, streams, and bayous, please let me know!

Most of the houses featured in your photos I've seen before, but it was great that you found the mod houses at Pine Creek and Westview. Not many folks know that they're there, and the one that came on to the market in the 5 years that I've lived in the area went very quickly. And even though they have small back yards, some of them have very large back yards. And I love that pueblo style house on Hilshire Green! It was on the market when I first moved into the area, and I considered buying it.

Yes, Pine Creek was an eye-opener. It would be easy for someone in the neighborhood driving around to miss it all-together--it almost looks like a driveway and not a through-street. That's one of the plusses to exploring by bicycle--you are going slow enough and are mobile enough to notice and check out things like that. Even so, I'm certain I miss a lot of cool stuff...

In any case, I greatly enjoyed your review of architecture in the Spring Valley/Hilshire Village area, as it seems that many in Houston don't realize that we're here! On second thought, that might not be such a bad thing.

I grew up in Memorial and still was almost completely ignorant of Spring Valley and Hilshire--I knew they were there and had driven down Westview many times, but beyond that, it was purely a voyage of discovery for me--which is how I like it.

-Robert

[flipper]

I'm excited for your venture west of Bingle. There's an awesome new construction contemporary that I'm sure will warrant a picture.

Keep up the good work!

flipper