Fire On Heights Boulevard

Houston Heights Loses Beloved Citizen and Beautiful Residence on Heights Boulevard

Houston Heights neighbors woke January 3 to the news of a tremendous tragedy in our tight-knit community with the loss of one of its beloved citizens, Mrs. Evelyn “Patti” Worthington, as well as that of her caretaker, Elizabeth “Lisa” Sanders.

Home Tour Chairs Marianne Sulser and Trudy Nelson and Home Selection Chair Honi Knowles remember that Mrs. Worthington didn’t hesitate when the Houston Heights Association asked her to open her magnificent home for one of the Association’s biggest fundraisers of the year. In no small part due to the home’s intrigue, the 2008 Holiday Home Tour enjoyed record numbers of visitors that year. On the Friday evening of the tour, in snow and freezing temperatures, visitors waited in a line from the front porch to the sidewalk, down Heights Boulevard, and around the corner at 12th Street. The following year, Mrs. Worthington volunteered her home for the HHA’s first-ever Holiday Home Tour Patron Party, which hosted over 100 guests and again raised important funds for the Association.

The home - a life-long dream for Mrs. Worthington - was a replica of a historic estate in Blacksburg, Virginia, which she loved from childhood memories. The beautiful home also received the HHA’s Community Improvement Award in 2008 for best new construction.

Most people who toured the home will remember Mrs. Worthington’s beloved and priceless collection of dolls ranging from the 15th century to current times, which were beautifully displayed in their own climate controlled glass cases in the home.

Our thoughts are with Mrs. Worthington’s family and friends.

Restoration/Historical

The next Houston Heights Association Restoration/Historical Committee meeting will be held at 448 Harvard Street on Thursday, February 10, from 7:30 to 9:30 PM.

Most everyone has an opinion about the new Preservation Ordinance. But when you are in the process of buying a home with contributing historic potential, but the seller asks that it be torn down after it is purchased, what do you do?

The answer, of course, is one preserves it. And that is essentially what a young couple with vast experience restoring a National Register home with amazing history at 1605 Heights Boulevard does. This month, we visit a home that is defined by a statement from the new owners that “houses deemed so often ‘too far gone’ may need a lot of work, but there is plenty that can be used without just tossing the house in a landfill and starting over. And there are so many resources right here in Houston to help with that process.” The trend to renovate a local building with historic potential follows a national trend to use older historic buildings to save the environment as well as incorporate historical preservation.

As experienced restoration aficionados, this couple bought this house, believed to be built in 1908, from seeing the handwritten cardboard “for sale” sign they passed daily. And they saw the interior two weeks after completing the purchase. Downsizing from their earlier home on “The Boulevard,” as it was known in the early 1900’s, they bought it. The price basically was just over the lot value, so they felt comfortable buying without seeing the interior as the seller required. Well, you can guess it was a shock for them to see it from the inside!

The house was in an awful state of disrepair. They could literally push on the wall of the master bedroom, and it would move and show the ground underneath from termite damage everywhere. It was 1600 square feet, not including the attic space that was built out with stairs and a plywood floor. So their restoration began.

Their philosophy from the beginning was to save every bit of the house that could be utilized and to use the existing square footage and attic space more efficiently to meet the family’s needs. Most of the original floor plan downstairs remained intact. It started as a two-bedroom; they kept one bedroom as the master and converted the space from the second bedroom into master bath, closet, laundry room, and powder room. The attic space was converted into two bedrooms and one bath. They also added on a new screened porch.

All the electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and roof were saved, as were all the original wood molding, wood floors, exterior wood siding, and windows. They even used a marvelous old sink found buried in the yard for a kitchen sink. Locally great resources in Houston were found to match the old house materials. Historic Houston had windows, siding, and flooring for patching and a claw-foot tub. The front door and antique glass doorknobs were bought at Atkins Antiques, and miscellaneous salvage pieces came from August Antiques on Heights Blvd. And, in turn, they found good homes for unused materials. Pine paneling went to Tim Womble for one of his projects; Historic Houston took the plumbing fixtures, gas fireplace, heaters, and other items.

They found the perfect architect, Spencer Howard, who works full time at Rice and does houses, too. He understood, and was enthusiastic about, the owners’ obsessive desire to save whatever could be saved of the house and their insistence on not adding more but making good efficient use of the existing space. He focused on improving energy efficiency and searched for unique pieces for the house like a find in Louisiana of three stained glass windows salvaged out of a house destroyed by Katrina for the den. The laundry room sink came from his parents’ backyard. Their contractor, Gabriel Home Builders here in Houston Heights, was good natured and patient as well with all the owners’ wishes, even though many of them required extra work. Overall, with careful planning and excellent resources, everything went extremely well for this must-see home.

This meeting will highlight what was thought to be another Houston Heights “tear down” house that has been transitioned into a charming family home using efficient recycling. Overall, the original exterior character of this property was kept intact. For those interested in how to do proper restoration and recycling, this meeting will be a must. Also, for those wanting to meet great neighbors and have an enjoyable evening, do attend.

The Houston Heights Restoration/Historical Committee meetings are open to the public quarterly to learn about history and restoration in keeping with the appreciation of the historic nature of Houston Heights. Please let Committee Chairman Dean Swanson know if you have a restoration project, historical structure under restoration, or historical information or photos pertaining to the Heights past to share at future meetings. Contact Dean at swansonad@sbcglobal.net or 713-880-2832.

HHA Education Committee Helps to Spread Holiday Cheer: Stories & Grants

The winners of the 2010 holiday writing contest read their stories to a large and enthusiastic audience at Waldo’s Coffee House on Saturday, December 18. Many thanks to Waldo’s for hosting this festive event! Shown in the picture at right are Andrea Arroyo, third-place winner for “Her Wish,” Mandy O’Leary representing Ismael Garza, first-place winner for “The Choir Tour,” and Jodi Bash, second-place winner for “Annie’s Christmas.”

Classroom Grants

Ushering in the New Year are many exciting projects in our Heights-area schools! The HHA Education Committee is pleased to announce that it has selected the following teachers as recipients for its 2010-2011 educational grant program:

Field Elementary School:

3rd Grade Team Ysobel Hayden & Rene Ibarra, $675.00 for “Science & Math”

Hamilton Middle School:

Librarian & Art Teacher Team Robert Bunch & Bridgette Phillips, $1,000.00 for “The Collage Project”

Helms Community Learning Center:

5th Grade Science Teacher Ida McCoy, $730.00 for “Science Literacy”

Physical Education Teacher Calvin Easterday, $1,000.00 for “Fun Movement with Music & Learning with Geo-phone Mats”

Technologist Julia Hernandez and Pre-K & Kindergarten teachers, $800.00 for “Visual Vocabulary”

Kindergarten Teacher Ana Lerma, $750.00 for “Discover and explore with engaging science/math workstations”

Love Elementary School:

Librarian Stephanie Eda, $750.00 for “Leaping Into Literature”

Kindergarten Teacher Pamela Esquivel, $750.00 for “iPad for Kindergarten”

Pre-kindergarten Teacher Carmen Vazquez and Kindergarten Teacher Brenda Munoz, $750.00 for “Amaryllis Flowers”

Reagan High School:

Band Director Stephen Becker, $750.00 for “Music/Band Instruments”

New Members

Please welcome the following new members to the Houston Heights Association.

Steve & Judy Beck

Curry Buckalew & Isabel Sigala

Tyann & Ian Casady, gift from Mireille Patman

James Chapman & Tony Pryor

Shirley & Daniel Dobrowski

Stephen Donato

Tyler Doyle

Linda Enger

Chris & Robyn Fellows

Tyler & Aimee Flood

Jim & Sara M. Garcia

Joan Kerr

Kevin & Susan King

Lyndsey & Daniel Knight

Yvonne & Gary Koehler

Leslie May

Patrick McConn

Seth & Katie McNew

Dennis & Ashley McQueen

Mike & Amy Moore

Wesley Moore

Suzy Morton & Dell Toelkes

Don & Judith Neptune

Milton & Suzanne Palmer

Ted & Jere Pfister

Joyce & Dave Savelle

Dan & Jan Schmieder

Alaina & Gregory Smith

Beverlee Steinberg & Chad Alexander

Sherri & Larry Stuart

Greg Utterback

Jack & Deanna Vernon

Mike White

Joyce Wildenthal

Shelli Williams

Woodland Cottage Etiquette, Shea Sandefer Hill

Emily Yang

Calendar of Events for February-March 2011

HHA headquarters: The Fire Station is on the corner of Yale and 12th Streets.

Community Calendar

Events planned by other community organizations.

Every Wednesday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Historic Houston’s salvage warehouse is open. See www.historichouston.org.

Every Monday, 7:30 to 10:00 PM, Houston International Folk Dancers introductory lessons at Oddfellows Hall, 115 E. 14th.

February 3-5, Opera in the Heights presents Verdi’s Don Carlo at Lambert Hall, 1703 Heights Blvd. For more information, visit Opera in the Heights.

March 5, 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon, The Lymphoma Research Foundation will host its second Houston Lymphomathon at Stude Park, 1031 Stude Street. For more information on volunteering, forming a team, signing up to walk, or becoming a sponsor, visit the Lymphomathon Website.

March 24-26 and March 31 through April 2, Opera in the Heights presents Bizet’s Pearl Fishers at Lambert Hall, 1703 Heights Blvd. For more information, visit Opera in the Heights.

Future History

April 1-3, Spring Home Tour

June 4, Heights Fun Run

October 2, Bicycle Rally

December 2-3, Holiday Home Tour

December 5-7, Holiday Basket Preparation and Delivery

February 26, 2012, Awards Dinner

At The Fire Station

Events at the Houston Heights City Hall and Fire Station, 12th and Yale

The second Monday, 5:00 to 7:00 PM, and the last Monday of the month, 8:00 AM to noon, the City Council District H Satellite Office is open at the east (office) door.

Heavy Trash Notes

February is a “Junk Waste” month; March is a “Tree Waste Only” month. See the Solid Waste web page for dates in your area and more information.