Last Chance To See 600 sq mi: Hidden
Missed Connections: Gefilte Fish...and "Chain Connections"
H-Town Rock
Rock Talk, Vol. IX
As we noted yesterday, the Doyle house on Heights Boulevard is no more — and Harry James, the man who had it demolished, is pissed off that anyone tried to save it. In an e-mail to the Chronicle, James said the house was beyond repair:
"This house is not a historic mansion, as is being classified in the media by my opponents. It sat in disrepair for 35 years, without any occupants and with major water leaks for decades," James said in an e-mail Wednesday afternoon. "The house has deteriorated to the point where it is rotten and unhealthy. Any reasonable person could see that it was neglected too long by the previous owner and heirs.""I gave the HHA almost two weeks to submit to me an offer to purchase it, but never received anything except verbal amounts that were a lot less than what my costs were to acquire the property," James said.
"I have plans to build a magnificent Classic Victorian that will be part of the future history of the Heights," James said. "Some times you have to ring out the old, and ring in the new."
For the record, the Doyle house was built in 1906 by William A. Wilson, a Heights developer who went on to build Woodland Heights the following year; according to city preservation officer Randy Pace, the house had some architectural elements that can't be found anywhere else in Houston. Not a historic mansion? If you say so, Mr. James.
James's motivation in getting rid of the Doyle house is to continue his quest to rebuild the Heights by demolishing classic Victorian homes to make way for his "Victorian classics." James has built six so far on Heights Boulevard, nine on Oxford Street, one on Courtland Street and another on Arlington Street, and he told the Chronicle that "Everything that I've built has been an improvement over what was there before." There are some pictures on James's website — check them out and judge for yourself. (If you want to live in a fake Victorian, James's own house at 2110 Oxford — whose design was supposedly inspired by San Francisco's famed "Painted Ladies" row houses — is on the market now.)
David Bush of Greater Houston Preservation Alliance told Houstonist on Tuesday that James said he'd be willing to sell the Doyle house for between $800,000 and $900,000, but as James told the Chronicle, no one bit: "I gave the [Houston Heights Association] almost two weeks to submit to me an offer to purchase it, but never received anything except verbal amounts that were a lot less than what my costs were to acquire the property," he said. (For the record, the 2007 appraisal of the property is about $290,000.)
As we've noted before, the best chance at protection for structures in Houston's historic neighborhoods is the 90-day waiting period that comes when a demolition request is refused by the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission. However, that waiting period doesn't apply to the Heights because Heights residents haven't approved the neighborhood's designation as a city historic district. The HHA is working to create two city historic districts covering the Heights, but it has to get the signatures of people who own 51 percent of the land in the proposed districts — and in the meantime, about two and a half historic homes are being demolished in the Heights each week. They'd better hurry.
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I am not in favor of tearing down every classic home in Houston or anything like that, but I do find it a little funny that the same people who complain about "cookie cutter" homes like Perry's that want something more unique and fitting to the neighborhood then make fun of the "victorian classics."
Again, I am not advocating tearing down historical homes, but hey at least the new homes this guy builds are different from the norm, you know?
You're right to some extent, blauvs. But if you look at the homes on James's website, a lot of them are just mirror images of the same plan, or the same plan with an extra turret here and gable there. So even though his designs are different than Perry's cookie cutter homes, they're cookie cutter designs in their own right.
I agree, I expected the "Victorian Classics" to be much worse due to all the negative comments. I guess I come from Canada though so I have different standards. The city I come from isn't exactly known for it's architecture. If one of these were built in St. Catharines, it would be one of the nicest homes in the city.
what a crock - the Doyle family may not have taken good care of the estate allowing James to demolish because of neglect (i am sure they were in cahoots) but it wasn't all that bad - like i've said...i have seen good things happen from places in the same or worse condition
Jim - you're right, you can make a new cookie-cutter in any shape you like. If the whole Heights were torn down and rebuilt with those "new age" victorian homes it would be pretty silly.
Another viewpoint for you to ponder:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7512030137262491766