condo versus older home

[EasilyAmused]

Modster, maybe you would know this. At what point did the population density shift to the west side? I notice that the east side has much older bungelows, so that's where Houston must have orginally started to burb outward. At what point did the east side go out of favor and the west side become more more in favor? You can't find any of those cute bunglows west of Memorial Park.

BTW, the east side is really picking up steam. Cute stuff for a great price. I just hope people really start working on the landscaping soon, that's when a neighborhood really takes off.

[modster]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Modster, maybe you would know this. At what point did the population density shift to the west side? I notice that the east side has much older bungelows, so that's where Houston must have orginally started to burb outward. At what point did the east side go out of favor and the west side become more more in favor? You can't find any of those cute bunglows west of Memorial Park.

BTW, the east side is really picking up steam. Cute stuff for a great price. I just hope people really start working on the landscaping soon, that's when a neighborhood really takes off.

I don't know when things shifted really. Gulfgate's history tends to make me think sometime in the mid-to-late fifties maybe, who knows. Gulfgate opened in 1954 and it was the first serious upscale shopping outside of downtown. It had Sakowitz, which for those too young to remember was like a Neiman-Marcus. Joskes (later bought out by Dillard's) Walter Pye's and other nice stores. The area was good enough at that point to warrant that kind of retail. Sakowitz had its store there I think 3 years before putting their one on Post Oak across from where the Galleria would later be built.

Places like Garden Villas, over off Telephone south of Bellfort, originally started in something like 1926. Park Place was platted in 1912 and at one time was its own municipality before being absorbed into Houston. When the same developer that built Woodland Heights also built Eastwood, I think Eastwood was considered the nicer of the two originally. Much of the area's history is supposedly outlined in a recent book that came out on, of all places, Telephone Road: Telephone Road, Texas by Burton Chapman

The east end is loaded with areas that are chocked full of great arts & crafts style bungalows, mid-century moderns & English-style cottages just waiting to be discovered. How many of them will be eventually, well, who knows.

As far as landscaping and such, Idylwood is really in great shape and Houston C.C. Place really doesn't have that far to go. Some areas like Broadmoor and Lawndale still have a lot of room for gentrification. The upside for people who like the character of old houses and old neighborhoods is at least for now everything east hasn't been plowed over for a bunch of cookie-cutter "anywhere USA" type houses that seem to be covering so much of the inner loop's west side these days.

[Kappinator]

Originally Posted by modster

I don't know when things shifted really. Gulfgate's history tends to make me think sometime in the mid-to-late fifties maybe, who knows. Gulfgate opened in 1954 and it was the first serious upscale shopping outside of downtown. It had Sakowitz, which for those too young to remember was like a Neiman-Marcus. Joskes (later bought out by Dillard's) Walter Pye's and other nice stores. The area was good enough at that point to warrant that kind of retail. Sakowitz had its store there I think 3 years before putting their one on Post Oak across from where the Galleria would later be built.

Places like Garden Villas, over off Telephone south of Bellfort, originally started in something like 1926. Park Place was platted in 1912 and at one time was its own municipality before being absorbed into Houston. When the same developer that built Woodland Heights also built Eastwood, I think Eastwood was considered the nicer of the two originally. Much of the area's history is supposedly outlined in a recent book that came out on, of all places, Telephone Road: Telephone Road, Texas by Burton Chapman

The east end is loaded with areas that are chocked full of great arts & crafts style bungalows, mid-century moderns & English-style cottages just waiting to be discovered. How many of them will be eventually, well, who knows.

As far as landscaping and such, Idylwood is really in great shape and Houston C.C. Place really doesn't have that far to go. Some areas like Broadmoor and Lawndale still have a lot of room for gentrification. The upside for people who like the character of old houses and old neighborhoods is at least for now everything east hasn't been plowed over for a bunch of cookie-cutter "anywhere USA" type houses that seem to be covering so much of the inner loop's west side these days.

Modster, you are an absolute wealth of information! Thank you for another very informative post.