James West Mansion At 3303 Nasa Pkwy.

[scoutmom]

The library has floor plans from the early sixties or so from the Lunar Science Institute days...

Thank you...I contacted the library on Friday and they were VERY helpful! My son was so excited!

Here are a few from my collection of that great old home... These were taken when the home was first built...I will have to scan some more to post but here are a couple of bedrooms plus the garden area out back overlooking the lake... It would make sense that a rich basketball player could spend a few of his millions to take care of the proprety he owns in our community.... oh well... Story III

These are fantastic! Thanks for sharing...

[Retama]

I have been fascinated with this house since I first passed it more than 40 years ago when my dad began work at NASA. Over that time I have seen a number of features disappear from the lawn and apartment buildings slowly begin to encroach upon this beautiful place. Hard to believe that NASA Road 1 was just a shell trail when this home was built.

Edited May 5, 2008 by Retama

[johnfinley]

I'm sorry I didn't answer any questions any sooner. I forgot the name of the gentleman who I contacted, but he was really nice and he was with the Fondren Library. I have copes of the original plans, and copies of the remodel plans too. Hey Sloane, how were you able to get those old black and white pictures?

[johnfinley]

I forgot to say that the first picture looks like Mrs. West's bedroom. The child's room doesn't match any other family bedroom in the plans, with the exception of the identical maid's rooms (one above one another) and the "secretary's" room between the music room and library.

[tmariar]

So I know this should really be posted in the Jim West Mansion thread, but maybe our kind-hearted moderators will let it go as a separate topic for a day or two...

I talked recently to a family friend in Clear Lake who is heavily involved in the fight to save the Jim West Mansion. She said that the potential sale of the mansion to a commercial developer planning to build a retirement community on the grounds and use the mansion as a main building - a deal that was reported in a few places in 2007 when it looked to be about to go through - did not go through. (I know I'd been thinking for the last several months that it was a done deal.) And that the mansion's future is that much more uncertain as time passes and the deed restriction prohibiting anyone from tearing the mansion down until 2012 (less than four years from now) becomes less of an obstacle to commercial developers.

I'll try to post later information about donating to the non-profit organization trying to buy the mansion - I think they're working on a new donation program that would offer incentives at different levels, and there should be more information soon. In the meantime, I helped start a Save the Jim West Mansion! ipetition (in the tradition of the River Oaks Theatre ipetition) that just went up today.... it would be great if we could get a number of HAIFers on there! Don't know if we can get 26,000+(!) signatures like the other petition, but a petition might really be helpful in this situation given that, as far as I know, Olajuwon can do what he wants with the property and presumably wants to help Houston. Anyhow - y'all can be among the first to sign if it's something you support. Here is the ipetition link again.

Thanks in advance to anyone who does sign - and, please, spread the word! I would so like to see this structure saved!

Edited August 20, 2008 by tmariar

[sevfiv]

Signed and forwarded - thanks for posting about this!

[editor]

Pinned for greater visibility.

[tmariar]

Thanks to y'all both!

[EastEnd Susan]

Thanks for posting this. You bet I signed the petition!

[tmariar]

Can't help wanting to say "thank you, thank you!" each time someone signs... but I'll try to keep it to PM's from now on.

[marketingwiz]

Can't help wanting to say "thank you, thank you!" each time someone signs... but I'll try to keep it to PM's from now on.

Signed, sealed and delivered. No thanks necessary.

[NenaE]

Signed yesterday, hope it's left intact & unaltered.

[Vertigo58]

I thought this was just that other older Jim West topic so I ignored for a moment

but in any case, I just noticed it was a petition and just signed it!

Buona fortuna...Best of luck!

[jwphillips2]

I thought this was just that other older Jim West topic so I ignored for a moment

but in any case, I just noticed it was a petition and just signed it!

Buona fortuna...Best of luck!

Me too. This is way too important.

[kayzer]

Me too. This is way too important.

I signed too! Lets stop the demolition madness, already!

[FilioScotia]

I signed too! Lets stop the demolition madness, already!

Keep in mind the West mansion is in Pasadena. Not Houston.

One of the people leading the effort to find a buyer told me that for all its shortcomings, Houston actually offers more avenues for protecting historic structures than Pasadena.

She says Pasadena has NOTHING to help the mansion.

[sheeats]

Only 50 signatures so far? There have to be more people who care about the Jim West Mansion than that. Please forward the link along to anyone you know who has ever taken even a passing interest in the mansion! It may only be an online petition, but it still serves a good purpose.

[Pumapayam]

Thanks in advance to anyone who does sign - and, please, spread the word! I would so like to see this structure saved!

I signed, but it would have been much cooler had it been Adam West's mansion, bat cave anyone?

Pinned for greater visibility.

What is the difference between a pinned posts versus a sticky post?

[FilioScotia]

Only 50 signatures so far? There have to be more people who care about the Jim West Mansion than that.

Apparently not. Outside of several ladies who've been working hard for five years to find a buyer, and a few people here on the HAIF, it doesn't appear that anybody cares for the West mansion. In fact, the only people who've ever cared for it were the original West family who built it and lived in it for a few years in the 20s and 30s. Even they moved out when old man West died in 1941, and it has sat vacant for most of the time since then.

NASA used it for a few years in the 70s as the home of the Lunar and Planetary Science Institute, but moved out because of the obvious problem of trying to fit the work of a scientific organization into a structure built as a home.

So what we have is a stunningly beautiful and palatial European style house that nobody wants. I hear that Hakeem Olajuwon wants 11 million dollars for the house and the 11 acres it sits on. Unfortunately nobody wants it at that price.

He wants to demolish the house and sell the property for whatever it will bring, but he can't because it's under deed restrictions that expire in 2012. So if no one buys the house and land before 2012, the West mansion will disappear and lord only knows what will take its place.

Don't bother appealing to Houston City Council, because it's not in Houston. It's in Pasadena, and Pasadena City Council couldn't care less.

Edited August 30, 2008 by FilioScotia

[Vertigo58]

Apparently not. Outside of several ladies who've been working hard for five years to find a buyer, and a few people here on the HAIF, it doesn't appear that anybody cares for the West mansion. In fact, the only people who've ever cared for it were the original West family who built it and lived in it for a few years in the 20s and 30s. Even they moved out when old man West died in 1941, and it has sat vacant for most of the time since then.

NASA used it for a few years in the 70s as the home of the Lunar and Planetary Science Institute, but moved out because of the obvious problem of trying to fit the work of a scientific organization into a structure built as a home.

So what we have is a stunningly beautiful and palatial European style house that nobody wants. I hear that Hakeem Olajuwon wants 11 million dollars for the house and the 11 acres it sits on. Unfortunately nobody wants it at that price.

He wants to demolish the house and sell the property for whatever it will bring, but he can't because it's under deed restrictions that expire in 2012. So if no one buys the house and land before 2012, the West mansion will disappear and lord only knows what will take its place.

Don't bother appealing to Houston City Council, because it's not in Houston. It's in Pasadena, and Pasadena City Council couldn't care less.

I had been speaking to tmariar briefly of ideas to help. Now that I am back I can focus.

Get me some blank spaced out layered forms for signatures and I will get down and get plenty of sig's. You would be surprised how "willing" some can be after a few cold ones. Whatever it takes!

Something simple like this (minus the martini)

[FilioScotia]

I had been speaking to tmariar briefly of ideas to help. Now that I am back I can focus. Get me some blank spaced out layered forms for signatures and I will get down and get plenty of sig's. You would be surprised how "willing" some can be after a few cold ones. Whatever it takes! Something simple like this (minus the martini)

I salute your willingness and eagerness to do something, but I'm afraid we are nearing the end of the line for the West mansion. No one has actually lived in it for more than 60 years now, and nobody -- NOBODY -- is showing the slightest interest in buying it from Hakeem Olajuwon. Not at his asking price anyway. I don't think petitions are likely to strike a spark of interest where none has been seen before.

But I've been wrong before. I hope I'm wrong about this, but I've been around long enough to know that pessimists are rarely disappointed.

At the same time, my hat is off to the three Bay Area ladies who're working tirelessly through their 501c3 Preserved in Time Foundation to raise the money to buy the house. Who knows? They might succeed, and I'll be the first to admit my pessimism was wrong.

Edited September 7, 2008 by FilioScotia

[tmariar]

All - For anyone interested in helping to gather signatures for the online petition using a hard-copy version, I've prepared one. If you PM me, I will send it to you.

Vertigo - I sent you an email.

FilioScotia - You mentioned that the mansion hasn't been used as a residence in decades. Supposedly, in his will, Jim West stipulated that the house could not be used as a private residence again - I'm sure there's a story there, though it may be something as simple as his wanting it to be used for public purposes. It hasn't been sitting empty all this time, though - it has been used by Rice University, by NASA, and for charity events. It still has many useful purposes, though no doubt is in need of some restoration.

The reason I think that saving the mansion may not be a lost cause is that it is owned by Hakeen Olajuwon, who has cooperated to some extent with local preservationist with regard to at least one other building. Also, while the mansion is technically held by a company owned by Olajuwon, I think it's a private company. In the case of the River Oaks Theatre, Weingarten has the argument that it is obligated to act in the interest of its shareholders in determining the future of the property. Olajuwon wouldn't have the same argument. Plus, I think he could sell to a buyer willing to preserve the mansion without taking much if any loss on the property - there has been at least one deal already that almost went through that called for the preservation of the mansion. To the extent a non-profit organization like Preserved in Time is interested in buying the house, I believe the thinking is that it might be possible to fund a large chunk of the cost via grants (though they would also have to raise a significant amount of money).

Edited September 9, 2008 by tmariar

[sevfiv]

88.7 ran a story yesterday:

http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-...s_id=1220879059

[jwphillips2]

This is of more immediate concern. Post-Ike damage looks like missing roof tiles and a broken window.

There is a Blue Roof program going on down here, but I don't have the creds to have them save the roof.

Any suggestions?

[jwphillips2]

This is of more immediate concern. Post-Ike damage looks like missing roof tiles and a broken window.

There is a Blue Roof program going on down here, but I don't have the creds to have them save the roof.

Any suggestions?

[sheeats]

Blue Roof program can't help with Spanish tile roofs like that... Only roofs that aren't rigid are eligible, since the tarps will be nailed/stapled to the existing roof.

[jwphillips2]

Blue Roof program can't help with Spanish tile roofs like that... Only roofs that aren't rigid are eligible, since the tarps will be nailed/stapled to the existing roof.

Right you are. They also exclude metal roofs for the same reason. Did the pic come out? Have a new browser that is squirrely.

[johnfinley]

Doesn't the house already have missing tiles? It's a miricle that the house didn't sustain any more damage. Do you all think it'd hurt if I downloaded my copies of the blue prints on here?

Also, I hope this isn't a silly question. Would it be okay if I could get some people here in Fort Worth to sign the peteition?

[tmariar]

Also, I hope this isn't a silly question. Would it be okay if I could get some people here in Fort Worth to sign the peteition?

Sorry I haven't been checking this thread - still don't have power.

Would be great if folks outside Houston wanted to sign. Thanks!

[FilioScotia]

West Mansion Group Wants Volunteers

Houston Public Radio reports the non-profit group that's trying to raise money to buy the West Mansion is hoping to beef up its corps of volunteers with a volunteer reception Friday at the Nassau Bay Hilton on NASA Rd One.

Check it out. http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-...s_id=1223960539