Quote:
Originally Posted by JManc
River Oaks has consistently been the center of Houston's old money since the 20's. It's where most of the oil wealth settled and has remained since. Memorial, yes came later, but these two areas have been centers of old money since they were established. West U is an extension of the Museum District and the Broadacres are which as you mentioned transitioned and gentrified and they are wealthy areas now but with a lot more nouveau riche. They are more akin to the Heights or Tanglewood than River Oaks. My lawn guy lives on North Blvd.
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We may both be wrong. Looking back at the OP, it mentioned "rich flight" beginning in the 1920s, so perhaps they were looking for neighborhoods that pre-dated that time period to be "old money" and are still intact. River Oaks and Broadacres would then be the places they ran
to. By that measure, maybe only a few parts of the
Heights could be one of the only surviving areas, though the Heights certainly went through some really bad decades, losing many homes, before revitalization started in the 1980s. But its not wealthy today in the same way that a River Oaks is. Houston has very few places that managed to survive intact for more than 100 years.
I disagree about West U, as that city was almost 100% rebuilt starting in the 1980s, with little left of the original homes, and West U is all west of Kirby. You may be thinking about Southampton, adjacent to Rice Village, and areas closer to Rice like Courtlandt Place, Westmoreland, Audubon Place, and Avondale. But that's not really "old money" either.
And I suspect your lawn guy doesn't live on the same part of North Blvd as Broadacres, the section I am referring to, which is closest to Montrose Blvd, and a historic district. If so, congratulations to him. Jim Crane's ex sold their home on South for $18M a few years ago, for example, and current listings are for over $5M. However, on North Blvd closer to Shepherd there are apartments that are listed for under $1400, with a spectrum of variation in between.