texasdago

I can provide insight from living in Memorial Bend. First off, the schools are some of the best in Houston - Spring Branch Independent School District and zoned to Rummel Creek, Memorial Middle and Memorial High School. From a walking standpoint, you can walk to Town & Country Village - Randall's, Walgreen's, plenty of stores (Restoration Hardware, The Gap, Banana Republic, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond) and a few restaurants. You can walk/bike from the neighborhood to Terry Hershey Park (about 10+ miles of trails along Buffalo Bayou) and playgrounds at Rummel Creek Elementary and Bendwood Park are close, as well. Now... the issue is price but if you watch carefully, something might come up at a moment's notice. I suspect you won't be the only one looking for a mod in the Bend, though. We live in more of a ranch style house even though we wanted MCM.

Of course, there's www.memorialbendarchitecture.com (shameless plug)

What do these look like? I wonder if they're like our switches.

The Robindell house was either designed by Floyd, Jenkins or Taylor. Floyd was the developer of Robindell and Jenkins/Taylor were still working for him at that point. The three of them designed most of the houses in the neighborhood. The Briarhurst house is a Floyd but has had some unfortunate alterations. I'll have to double-check but the house may be one that was listed in Better Homes & Gardens and was built for a prominent Houston attorney. The house on Timberknoll is Charles "Tiny" Lawrence's house - one of the founders of CRS. He designed the house for himself. Tom Bullock's house (another CRS founder) is a few blocks away - another modern gem.

We were there. I really wanted that long couch by the back corner but it looks like someone beat us to it.

We'll be there...

Doesn't quite look like it but, good Lord, what have they done to the interior of that house?

Reminds me of the Mitchell House - the owner demolished it to put up a McMansion. His reasoning? Well... it was just beyond fixing. It would've taken too much money. Come to find out from his neighbor that the owner had never spent a dime on maintenance in 14 years and he left it gradually fall apart. So, your question is valid - how did it get to that point?

How about Houston Jewelers on Westheimer/Gessner (not the rinky dink version that is now two blocks east)

Nope... doesn't sound like it. If you drive from BW8 towards Gessner on Memorial, once you pass Starbucks on the left-hand side, the house is on the right.

I had always heard they were in the "shipping business". I know someone who lives on the same street as the Shell gypsy house. She returned home one day from work only to find that she couldn't drive down her street because the SWAT team was around the gypsy house.

That's the house... it is terrible. Rumor has it that the owners are related to the "gypsy house" further down Memorial (by Benignus, across from Shell and the Turkish restaurant). You can spot it by its blackout windows and its matching white lions. By the way, my rant was not directed towards rps. I know there are some out there that "get it".

Personally, I get awfully frustrated by the realtors who list houses and speak out of both sides of their mouth - "look at this great modern house" but "with a great big lot ready for your new construction". You can't have it both ways. Ultimately, follow the $ and realtors, more often than not, are going to suggest razing a house, significant or not, if they think they can get the quick sale. Far too often, builders, developers and realtors could care less about what the new house will do to the architectural integrity or character of a neighborhood. Regardless of whether the new 5,000 sq. ft. house will look like a big white elephant on a nice street of mods and ranch houses, they're after the 6%. The commission is made and they move on. The neighborhood gets stuck with the result. If you want a perfect example of this, look at the monstrosity on Memorial on the south end of Memorial Plaza. A house that is "universally" (yes, universally... I've never heard a single person say a positive thing about the house) ridiculed. That portion of the neighborhood looks like crap but I'm sure someone made their commission. If you live in the area, you know exactly which house I'm talking about (and yes, it is leaning).

Did anyone mention Frost Brothers? The Randall's at Dairy Ashford and Memorial was a Handy Andy whereas the first Randall's (now gone) was at Kirkwood at I-10, right next to TG&Y.

I had a birthday party at the Memorial City location (near where the Foley's is now located)

There's Metro Modern on Milam. Lackey-Prince is next door and sometimes they have some cool modern pieces (we bought a eames shell rocker there). MetroRetro in Pasadena is gargantuan - they have a store on Westheimer near Montrose (used to be a futon place).

Anyone have any updates?

713-416-0881 Please post the price

Yup... definitely the Penguin Arms. As Alan Hess mentioned in his lecture last week, this building was mentioned in the famous 1950s article that initially labeled Googie architecture. It is indeed a wonderful building and, from what I saw, it looked like one unit was opening up. What a cool building.

I'll grab the number and post it. Here is an old photo (landscaping has improved markedly): It is similar to this house: ...although with more original features. Here is a description of the second picture from 1958 but the houses are nearly identical. The one for sale has a cool wood screen by the front door.

The house now has a "For Sale By Owner" sign. Someone needs to snatch up this house before some builder razes it.

I just checked the page... they're actually different... Just one big button, about one inch in diameter that you push on/off.

Yup... that's what they are. They look like they would glow but they don't.

At some point, I need to photograph our light switches and switch plates as I need help tracking them down. They're push-button lights. Also, definitely send your house to the home page section...

If you received the latest issue of Atomic Ranch, they mention their trips to Houston in a couple of spots. It looks like one Memorial Bend house will be featured at the end of the year - a cool flat-roof modern that a few of us, including SpaceAge have seen. It looks like several Houston houses will also appear in a book they are going to publish next year. Very cool! Also - stolitx, your light switches are famous.