Houston Streets 15--Frostwood & Memorial Forest

The area I rode in yesterday consists of the subdivisions just east and west of Gessner between Memorial and I-10.



The residential streets branch off of two north-south streets, Plantation and Frostwood. My understanding is that this area was developed by a man named Frost, but I can't find details. The houses here were built mostly between 1959 and 1965. The lots tend to be small compared to those in the Villages (just east of these subdivisions). In fact, if you go immediately south or west, the lots and the houses tend to be larger. This is where Memorial starts to become the more familiar kind of Houston suburb--similar houses on same-sized lots, with developers reusing floor-plans and exterior designs.



These two houses (on Beauregard and Pine Rock respectively) are basically mirror images of one another. The Pine Rock house seems to have a slightly shallower roof, and the original white bricks have been painted. (The design seems to have been a semi-Japanese pastiche--by far the most exotic of the standard plans the developers used). The further west you go, the more pronounced this approach to development is. Swamplot had a great post about four identical houses in Bear Creek Meadows, all foreclosed or close to it, for sale. Those houses were only four years old. When houses are over 40 years old, time can start granting them some individuality. People plant their yards differently (and oaks planted 40 years ago are quite majestic now), they paint their houses different colors, they change their walkways or exteriors or roofs, etc. But the variation is very small. I had a Steve Reich album on my IPod as I rode (Sextet, Piano Phase, and Eight Lines played by the London Steve Reich Ensemble--I recommend it highly), and it occurred to me that a neighborhood like this is like a Steve Reich piece, where there is a comfortable, rhythmic sameness with tiny changes as you go along. The tiny changes wouldn't have even caught my eye while riding through the much more heterogeneous Memorial Villages, but here they stand out.

(One reason why houses seem so similar in these middle class subdivisions is that developers designed them that way, but another reason is that the residents here place a high value on conformity. The problem is that individuality and eccentricity are seen as potentially destructive--economically (home values may fall) and even socially. And even if the residents could accept outward signs of eccentricity, it's hard for most people to distinguish between eccentricity and socially pathological behavior. The average homeowner, looking at his neighbor's front yard, may be unable to distinguish between a rusted car on blocks and a John Chamberlain sculpture--so it is easier to simply disapprove of both. Which is too bad for me because I, of course, favor outward expressions of individuality when I'm riding my bike around.)

So anyway, that leads me to what you'll see below--small deviations from the norm. Like this house on Woodthorpe with it's groovy 70s concrete privacy screen.



Or this extravagant front yard on Perthshire at Frostwood (obviously appreciated by the neighbors!).



Garage apartments are very unusual in this neighborhood. This one on Kimberley caught my eye because it has what I take to be a clerestory. I'd love to see what it looks like on the inside.



This house at Barryknoll and Frostwood has a dramatic marble front, totally unlike anything else in the neighborhood. My guess is that it was added to the original house.



Sometimes a good paint job is enough to distinguish a house, as with this colonial on Boheme.



There are very few modern houses in this neighborhood, all west of Gessner for some reason. This dark brown model is on Perthshire.



This one is on Boheme, right next door to the colonial house.



Of course, if you want variation, one way to achieve it is to build a brand new house. Needless to say, this neighborhood hasn't escaped McMansion supersizing. This behemoth is on Overcup.



This one is under construction on Taylorcrest.



Not all houses built after 1965 are hideous monstrosities, though.



This Georgian-style house on Perthshire was built in 1992. Like most of the houses in the neighborhood, it has a red brick exterior, and it is not grotesquely out-of-scale with its neighbors. But it has an elegance generally lacking in the earlier houses in the neighborhood, and it has aged beautifully.

Of course, this ride wasn't entirely residential. Where Gessner meets I-10 is a confluence of commerce and medicine--Memorial City Mall on the east, and Memorial Hermann Memorial City hospital on the west. The two are even in the process of meeting--a skybridge across Gessner is being constructed to connect the two.



OK, you may say, boy that skybridge looks expensive. Can't people just walk to Memorial City from the hospital. Even counting the trek across the parking lot, the two structures are less than a block apart. And crossing Gessner is not difficult. In the .38 miles along Gessner from Barryknoll to I-10, there are four stoplights with crosswalks (making it a real pain to drive down Gessner, I can tell you). On the other hand, maybe it's not such a good idea for sick people to walk that far on 100+ degree days.

This appears to be where the skybridge will connect with the mall. I like the hanging tarp facade with its feeble trompe l'oeil effect.



The main construction here is a 30-story skyscraper, where the Memorial Hermann system will be moving its head offices.



Of course, everyone wants to know about the freaky truncated cone on top. The first question is, what is it for? (I have heard it suggested that helicopters could land there, but seriously...) The more important question is, who is it that, as this building was being designed, thought this thing would look good? Swamplot has some additional info (you can rent offices in the cone!).

The side of the building that faces the freeway looks pretty grand, however.

Houston Streets 10--Farnham Park & Charnwood

On the advice of some posters at the Houston Architecture Info Forum, I decided to try to get into Farnham Park today. This is the street south off of San Felipe just before you hit Buffalo Bayou. It is a gated street, but the scuttlebutt is that it is actually a public street. So I asked the guards if I could ride around. They waved me through.


This is a house I've always been curious about. A modern house with metallic skin, the back of it (shown here) is visible from San Felipe.


Here's what it looks like from the drive-way. You really can't see all that much--I think you'd really need to go up the driveway and see it up close. But at least I've seen it from more than one angle now.


This house on the corner of Farnham Park and Farnham Circle manages to be airy and boxy at the same time. It looked quite lovely in the late afternoon sun.


This is a view of the middle of the house. It's hard to see, but the stairs are individual boards that project from the wall. No railings. Looks cool but kind of dangerous.


Another modern house at the end of Farnham Circle.


This curious house is a combination of modern and classical (those are doric columns). When I see that particular aesthetic combination, I inevitably think of Mussolini. Or Albert Speer. I mean, maybe it's not the best combination.


Another modern house on Farnham Circle.


Farnham Park has something very rare for Houston--a scenic overlook. It's amazing that the developer didn't requisition every square foot of Bayou frontage for development, but here is the proof. A beautiful bend of the Bayou behind a lovely metal fence. (This image is made of three photos.)


This brown house with a metal roof is almost all the way to the end of Farnham Park. It looks like something you'd see in Colorado, surrounded by birch trees and rock. Quite lovely, actually.

Now apparently some residents were alarmed to see me riding in their neighborhood taking photos. So the guards gave me a lot of shit when I left, and they strongly implied that this was private property and that I was not allowed to take photos. It was a humiliating dress-down, which I would have gladly avoided. I was afraid they'd try to hold me or call the cops, but they took my personal information (which if I had any guts, I would have denied them*) and let me go.

(*Don't ever entrust me to carry out part of any secret spy mission. I crumble under authority instantly.)

I then rode around the corner to Voss, and entered the neighborhood of Charnwood. When I saw that, I thought of Charn, the ruined world in The Magician's Nephew. But apparently there is a place in England called Charnwood, which I'm sure is the origin of the name.


This house at the corner of Inwood and Woodway had an intriguing curved ivy-covered fence.


In an earlier post, I suggested that there was no public access to Bufalo Bayou between Memorial Park and Terry Hershey Park. Well, I am happy to report that I was not completely correct. Briar Bend Park is a little park on Woodway that faces the Bayou. According to the Bayou Preservation Association, it is the only park between "the upper and lower sections" of the bayou. They give instructions on using it as a canoe embarkation point (scroll down). (The bike leaning on the gazebo in the park is mine, by the way.)

Frankly, getting a canoe down to the Bayou would be tough. It has a very steep bank with only rough trails leading down, but it is worth it to go down and take a look.


For one thing, you'll discover this chair built onto a fallen pine that straddles the bayou.


Here's another view of the Bayou chair. Now, you may be asking--Robert, did you climb out on this log and have a little sit-down? Well, no. I chickened out. Maybe with a few beers in me, I would try it. If I were 12 again, I surely would.


This structure is across the Bayou from Briar Bend Park. I wondered what it was--it looks a little like apartments with a mansard roof.


But no--it's a sewage treatment plant. If you're canoing here, don't accidentally swallow the water! This plant is right at the end of Farnham Park. So these wealthy folks in their big houses with their uniformed guards who hassle innocent tourists--well, when the wind is right, their neighborhood must be quite fragrant.

This leads me to a theory. I was amazed to find a park anywhere on the Bayou besides the big ones. How did Briar Bend Park happen? Maybe the developer of Charnwood was thinking, "Even though I can charge a premium for Bayou-backed property, no one wants to live across from a shit factory. But if I put a park there, that's an amenity that adds value to the rest of the neighborhood!" Who knows?

Update: Well, someone knows. I got an email from a former resident of the neighborhood, and she wrote:

Prior to about 1985, the “park” was an under-utilized, scrubby odd-shaped piece of land owned by HISD with a shabby playground that was actually rather dangerous. My recollection is not exact but HISD decided to sell the property. The neighborhood formed a committee to work with the Houston Parks and Recreation (I think that’s the name) to create a neighborhood park. I’m fuzzy on details as I was not in any kind of a lead position on this. Anyway, we raised money and got the city to contribute money and the land was purchased for use as a park. It was a big endeavor and I think I remember that it was initially difficult to convince the city that a) we deserved a park and b) that the land was large enough.

Folks in our neighborhood had terrific input as to what would go in the park and worked very closely with the parks people – the gazebo was a big deal as I remember and so was the jog trail. The playground was (in the 80s anyway) state-of-the-art and we were very proud of it. There was a splashy opening ceremony and the park was an instant hit – everyone in Briarbend and Charnwood at that time had little kids and we just lived down there.

So there you go. My cynical speculation was completely untrue! If anyone knows interesting history of anything I write about, please let me know. At best, I get intriguing glances of interesting places, and I really enjoy gaining a deeper knowledge of a place, when it's possible.

One final note. Key Maps really messed this neighborhood up. I want to support Key Maps, since they are local and all, but they make a lot of mistakes. First of all, Del Monte connects with Woodway and is not a dead end, as they depict. Furthermore, Burgoyne does not make a right angle turn and connect with Woodway as shown. There is a greenway that connects the two streets--perhaps at one time, the city intended to make a connecting street. But Burgoyne dead-ends where I have shown in the map at the beginning of this post. Finally, Briar Bend Park does not extend all the way to the end of Woodway as shown. There are some houses and apartments after the park, which is smaller than depicted on the map, alas.

(Thanks to Swamplot for the great mention!)

Biking the Streets--East Hunter's Creek Village

(NOTE: Hello to visitors from Swamplot and Houston Architecture Info Forum!)

Today I finished off Hunter's Creek (after a long hiatus). That's it for the Villages south of I-10; there are two north of the freeway that I still need to explore.


This is where I rode today. Buffalo Bayou veers north here and eventually comes quite close to I-10, so Hunter's Creek narrows a bit from north to south.


Katy Freeway (I-10 west of downtown) is undergoing massive widening (so that all those developers out past Katy will have a big road for their new homeowners to fill). Here, at Wirt Rd., is some of the construction. It is, needless to say, a royal pain in the ass.

One thing interesting about Hunter's Creek Village and Houston is the instant you leave Hunter's Creek going east (and enter Houston), there are apartments. I suspect Hunter's Creek is zoned to exclude them, but they are bunched right along the boundary of the Village (despite the fact that the area along Memorial between Hunter's Creek and the Loop is some of the richest real estate in the city--I guess it still makes sense to have apartments there).


Also right outside Hunter's Creek, on Memorial, is Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, which, when I was a lad, was famed for turning out the preppiest girls in Houston.


We don't get much autumn color in Houston, and it tends to come at the wrong time. These three trees on Fall River (a well-named street, eh?) were some of the brightest I have seen since October. I miss autumn in New England sometimes.


This ivy-covered modern house on Longwoods has its own rolling meadow. You see a few of these near the Bayou, where Houston has topography, such as it is. (This house was actually part of a multi-building compound--or campus--or whatever. Zillow prices it at $3.92 million.)

UPDATE: According to poster BenH on the Houston Architecture Info Forum, this house is probably the Thrash Mansion, designed by Preston Bolton.


Another amazing property with rolling meadows is this Bayou-backed estate on Shasta. The lot is mind-bendingly huge, and Zillow prices the whole thing at $2.87 million. But what struck me as I rode my bike up was the sight of this vulture. . .

. . . eating this armadillo . . .

. . . right in front of the house. I imply no metaphor, but feel free to infer one if you wish.

Timberwilde (and Kuhlman just north of Timberwilde, on the other side of Memorial) are two of the most attractive streets in Hunter's Creek because all the houses have these huge, open front yards.


As a matter of principal, I prefer houses closer to the street, so there is a little more engagement with the neighborhood. Plus, if you have a big backyard, you can sunbathe naked--which is not advised in your front yard. But since these houses have these big yards, they should use them better. Almost all of them have scattered pine trees and grass, with maybe a few shrubs here and there. With all this space, they could do all kinds of cool things in their front yard that would be exciting yet tasteful.

Therefore, residents of Timberwilde and Kuhlman, I issue a challenge to you. Put monumental sculptures in your front yards. Big beautiful abstract metal sculptures. I know you all have been getting gigantic bonuses, what with oil at $100 a bbl. Spend it on some big bold art! Like this:

(Egremont II by Herbert Ferber at the Norton Simon Museum)

Or this one:

(Forum by Anthony Caro)

Or this one:

(not sure what the title is, but it's by Richard Serra)

This last one was actually commissioned by a homeowner in Atherton, CA. Come on, you Timberwildes and Kuhlmans--you can commission a Richard Serra for your lawn too! You have the space, and I know some of you have the money.


This house, near the end of Timberwilde, is one of the few with lots of plants in the front yard. But what really makes it unique is the enormous grey pyramid on its otherwise flat roof.

UPDATE: BenH(see above) also identifies this house as the Greer house designed by Richard S. Colley.

One of my favorite houses is at the end of Hunter's Trail, right where Soldier's Creek empties into the Bayou. It's a moderne house--moderne being kind of a subset of art deco, typified by lots of curves. Think Miami. Unfortunately, this house is mostly hidden behind a green curtain, so it was impossible to get a shot of the whole thing. Here's what it looks like from 100 miles straight up.

View Larger Map

Here is another view of the Hunter's Trail moderne:


And another, from the other end of the "C":

You can't see the transparent middle part, or the way it is cantilevered out over the creek. It's one cool house. I'd love to see the inside and the back.

UPDATE: More from BenH. He has a lot to say about this house: "Willowisp and I have been there and know the owner. It's Dr. Davey Lieb's house, and he's a member of Houston Mod and has been to several of the events. We're supposed to shoot it at some point. Dr. Lieb designed it himself in 1972. He says it's supposed to be like a flower. It has fifteen rooms in the two wings. This house is also mentioned in the guide, but not pictured. Stephen Fox described it as being influenced by Bruce Goff. And it's not moderne, it's organic or Wrightian." If you click through the link I've provided, you'll see a better aerial view than the one here.


Right around the corner on North Ripple Creek is this interesting oddity. The photo doesn't do justice to the bright green roof and yellow trim, which look great together. What's weird about the roof is that it seems to consist solely of various-sized square-based pyramids. The bases vary in size, but the angles are all the same. I counted seven of these pyramids, but there may be more in back.

Now let's go back north of Memorial. I found another pedestrian cut-through on Oak Valley, which is unique in that it actually has an official sign letting you know it is a cut-through.


Kuhlman (mentioned earlier) has one house with a sculpture. Here is the house:


And here, alas, is the sculpture:


Now I have nothing against the sculpture as a work of art. It's fine. But its placement is terrible. This sculpture is about one-and-a-half-persons tall, but it looks puny scrunched up against that little wall. You can't walk around it. It looks like the owners are embarrassed by it. They have a large yard--put it out there!


This beautiful rustic house is at the very end of Kuhlman, and backs into Hunter's Creek (the actual creek, which is quite large here). I love the unpainted wood exterior, the wrap-around porch and balcony, the rocking chairs and porch swing (a bit hard to see), and the complete lack of front yard. It just looks so damn homey and inviting.

One last house, this one on Hickory Hollow, just south of I-10. Here's a case where someone bought a car to go with their house.

I wish the sun had been shining a bit so the colors popped better, but take my word for it that this metallic blue Thunderbird is really the perfect for a pink modern house.