Bayou City History
There was more to this 1971 photo than we thought
From the May 2, 1971, Houston Chronicle: Montrose mansion houses this group of young tenants. Most of them are college students or dropouts. (Bill Clough : Chronicle file)
I found this May 1971 Houston Chronicle photo in our Montrose file. The group of twentysomethings here lived in what was described as a Montrose mansion in the Westmoreland Addition. They were not identified nor was an address published.
However, as I learned last week, the house these folks are standing outside apparently has a unique history. More on that in a bit.
The photo was published as part of a Sunday story on the changing scene in Montrose. Here’s how the article described the area:
Spring mornings in Montrose, a few of the folks who live the freak life-style in an old, columned 20-room house on a quiet residential street near the Southwest Freeway often pause on the steps of the front porch to watch the scene.
On some days the scene includes the tall, impressive-looking Negro butler from across the street walking a poodle and looking as if he wished he were some place else.
Sometimes it also features a middle-aged woman revving down a side street on her big, 750cc Moto Guzzi motorcycle. (Someone who spotted her car reports she has personalized plates that read RT-ON.)
Such scenes, viewed by the 10 or so residents of the three-story mansion and the two-story house next door, are common today in the Montrose area, where longhairs and growing numbers of young families coexist with poor whites, blacks and Mexican-Americans, students, homosexuals and a few families of gypsies and Cuban exiles. Apartment-dwellers abound.
Before the time of River Oaks and Memorial, however, Montrose was one of the city’s finest neighborhoods. The names of many of its residents are written large in the city’s history: Garwood, Jones, Edna W. Saunders, the Drs. Daily, Lamar Fleming, Alessandro, Fonville, to name just a few. One of the state’s most distinguished musicians, Miss Bessie Griffiths, an intimate of the great of the concert world, still lives and teaches in her home at 408 Hawthorne.
The fact that a group of students lived in this Westmoreland home in the early 1970s may sound familiar to those who follow historic preservation. That is similar to the history of Mayor Annise Parker’s house, which was designated a protected historic landmark in 2009. The house's history also matches other elements of the house’s past as written up in the Chronicle back then. I sent the picture to spokeswoman Janice Evans along with some details from the 1971 article. She checked with Parker, who said the picture probably shows her house.
Known officially as the Elbert C. Crawford House, it was built in 1904 by August LeBrun Metcalf. In 1906, Metcalf sold the house to Clara Edwards Crawford, whose husband, Elbert C. Crawford, was a local entrepreneur. In 1918, the house was sold to Carl F. Gydeson, president of Gyedson-Manford Cadillac Company, who was referenced in the Chronicle article. His family lived there for years before it was rented out to students in the late 1960s/early 1970s, probably those in the photo above.
I found this May 1971 Houston Chronicle photo in our Montrose file. The group of twentysomethings here lived in what was described as a Montrose mansion in the Westmoreland Addition. They were not identified nor was an address published.
However, as I learned last week, the house these folks are standing outside apparently has a unique history. More on that in a bit.
The photo was published as part of a Sunday story on the changing scene in Montrose. Here’s how the article described the area:
Spring mornings in Montrose, a few of the folks who live the freak life-style in an old, columned 20-room house on a quiet residential street near the Southwest Freeway often pause on the steps of the front porch to watch the scene.
On some days the scene includes the tall, impressive-looking Negro butler from across the street walking a poodle and looking as if he wished he were some place else.
Sometimes it also features a middle-aged woman revving down a side street on her big, 750cc Moto Guzzi motorcycle. (Someone who spotted her car reports she has personalized plates that read RT-ON.)
Such scenes, viewed by the 10 or so residents of the three-story mansion and the two-story house next door, are common today in the Montrose area, where longhairs and growing numbers of young families coexist with poor whites, blacks and Mexican-Americans, students, homosexuals and a few families of gypsies and Cuban exiles. Apartment-dwellers abound.
Before the time of River Oaks and Memorial, however, Montrose was one of the city’s finest neighborhoods. The names of many of its residents are written large in the city’s history: Garwood, Jones, Edna W. Saunders, the Drs. Daily, Lamar Fleming, Alessandro, Fonville, to name just a few. One of the state’s most distinguished musicians, Miss Bessie Griffiths, an intimate of the great of the concert world, still lives and teaches in her home at 408 Hawthorne.
The fact that a group of students lived in this Westmoreland home in the early 1970s may sound familiar to those who follow historic preservation. That is similar to the history of Mayor Annise Parker’s house, which was designated a protected historic landmark in 2009.The house's history also matches other elements of the house’s past as written up in the Chronicle back then. I sent the picture to spokeswoman Janice Evans along with some details from the 1971 article. She checked with Parker, who said the picture probably shows her house.
Known officially as the Elbert C. Crawford House, it was built in 1904 by August LeBrun Metcalf. In 1906, Metcalf sold the house to Clara Edwards Crawford, whose husband, Elbert C. Crawford, was a local entrepreneur. In 1918, the house was sold to Carl F. Gydeson, president of Gyedson-Manford Cadillac Company, who was referenced in the Chronicle article. His family lived there for years before it was rented out to students in the late 1960s/early 1970s, probably those in the photo above.
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