wendyps Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Former Enron trader to raze historic homePreservationists, whose hands are tied, say it's a sign River Oaks, too, is losing its pastBy LISA GRAYCopyright 2005 Houston ChronicleBen DeSoto / Chronicle Salvage crews begin preparing the historic Dogwoods home in River Oaks for demolition. The grand old house at 2950 Lazy Lane - an updated historic property known as Dogwoods - hardly looked like a teardown. But this week, its new owner, John D. Arnold, the former wunderkind of Enron's energy trading desk, began demolishing it.Dogwoods, valued with its land at $4.9 million, shares a driveway and a history with Bayou Bend next door, a house museum maintained by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.***Edited to remove copyrighted content ****** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 I'm getting pretty jaded and emotionally immune to this stuff in Houston at this point. A young guy from Dallas no less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Its easy to stop it if you form a historic commision. As long as no one supports the creation of historic commisions, you can expect these houses to go.Westmoreland is a good example at an attempt at preserving historical areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoAtomic Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Oh, good lord, not another idiot with 5 mil burning a hole in his pocket, who wants to tear down something unique and of substance and replace it with yet another pseudo-architectural, faux Mediterranean piece of garbage, simply to give all of his equally overpaid and soulless peers something to ogle .... .... when did tasteless ostentatiousness become hip and trendy for the moneyed set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banking214 Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 I'm getting pretty jaded and emotionally immune to this stuff in Houston at this point. A young guy from Dallas no less.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>A young guy from Dallas no lessHas nothing to do where the person is from, has everyhing to do with that persons view of history and architecture. I personally think it is sad that someone would want to demolish such a grand home. I am so sick of seing this happen in Dallas as well as Houston. Great old homes being torn down for the next McMansion. Ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Man this is unbelievable!!!! Stupid question but is there a historical society in Houston? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 A young guy from Dallas no lessHas nothing to do where the person is from, has everyhing to do with that persons view of history and architecture. I personally think it is sad that someone would want to demolish such a grand home. I am so sick of seing this happen in Dallas as well as Houston. Great old homes being torn down for the next McMansion. Ugh. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I should've plopped down an emoticon like cause I was making that comment tongue in cheek, messing with the Dallas haters here. I don't know how Dallas has held up as far as historical home preservation but I'd guess that they are way ahead of us. Anyone can come here and pimp any neighborhood they want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Was this house even visible from the road? Most houses on Lazy Lane aren't.The guy seems kind of shallow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rps324 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Was this house even visible from the road? Most houses on Lazy Lane aren't.The guy seems kind of shallow. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I think they built another house in front of it didn't they? It just makes me ill. It's not like the rich little twit needed some extra space. "Gee, I don't think I can cram all my stuff in this mansion..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 ^^^Are you disliking him for being rich or for tearing down this house.Disliking him for tearing down this house is one thing and has good reason.Disliking him for being rich is discriminatory and bigoted. I'm personally am not rich, but I'm sick of people who blame the rich for everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelguy_73 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 ^^^Are you disliking him for being rich or for tearing down this house.Disliking him for tearing down this house is one thing and has good reason.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>It is probably a bit of both; psychologically it is hard to not let net worth enter into it. There are probably many people out there that would do the same thing as this guy--the difference is he has the ability to actually follow through with such a travesty. I don't think anyone begrudges him success since it is what most of us strive for ourselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Man this is unbelievable!!!! Stupid question but is there a historical society in Houston?Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (ghpa.org) is a good place to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Historic commisions are the way to go to protect homes, but the community has to get behind them. Houston doesn't have many because the communities don't care to get invloved. I know of several in Louisiana and Massachusetts that are really involved and have lots of public support. This give them the power they need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rps324 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 ^^^Are you disliking him for being rich or for tearing down this house.Disliking him for tearing down this house is one thing and has good reason.Disliking him for being rich is discriminatory and bigoted. I'm personally am not rich, but I'm sick of people who blame the rich for everything.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I don't dislike him for being rich, I dislike him for using his wealth to rob this community of it's history. Who's blaming the rich for everything? I AM blaming this one rich guy for tearing down that house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Then being rich should never come into the discussion. This is not just one rich guy, but a guy that is tearing down the house.Many people daily in the city buy houses that are built in the place of historic old homes. Just look at the West End. Look in the Montrose. Look south of the River Oaks Shopping center. West U and Bellaire. Not all of them are rich. Sure, you can blame the developer, but you still bought the house.If the previous owner didn't want this house destroyed, shouldn't he have tried to protect it before selling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rps324 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 In my opinion his wealth does enter the discussion, because with wealth comes more options. He could afford to buy and build anywhere. Since basically, "the sky's the limit" and out of the whole array he had available to him he chose to destroy part of the city's historic fabric.True there are PLENTY of other examples involving less expensive properties and less affluent buyers, but that was not the discussion, Dogwood was.It is a shame the owners didn't somewhere make some provisions to protect the property. Their lack of action does not make his actions any better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelguy_73 Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 If the previous owner didn't want this house destroyed, shouldn't he have tried to protect it before selling?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>In theory, yes, but I can't imagine the previous owner could have imagined that a multi-million dollar house that was once one of the elite homes in River Oaks would fall prey to a new buyer who couldn't find another suitable lot to build on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyps Posted May 6, 2005 Author Share Posted May 6, 2005 Well, I'm going to go see if I this is still standing this weekend. I'm not familiar with the house, but it is so crazy to me that something that historical in a city where 25 years old is considered ancient, can be sold off and torn down. I guess the flip side though of not being able to do what you want with your own property is pretty terrible as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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