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3711 Willowick Road,
wrtintx (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
Willowick Drive. The 1964 murder of Jacques Mossler, head of a $33 million banking and loan empire, became one of the most sensational crime stories the Chronicle has ever covered. At first, it was the story of how an assailant in the early hours of June 30 had bludgeoned and stabbed the 69-year-old Mossler to death in his luxurious Key Biscayne, Fla., apartment. Then it became the story of the investigation and indictment of his wife, Candace, 50, and the alleged killer, her nephew Melvin Lane Powers, 28, with whom she allegedly was having a steamy love affair. And then, after 18 months of legal maneuvering, it became the story of a sensational murder trial in Miami, featuring Percy Foreman and other top defense lawyers. In New Orleans in 1947, while being divorced by his first wife, Mossler met Candace Weatherby Johnson, 33, a former model and mother of two, who was also getting a divorce. They married the next year, and in 1950 made their home in a River Oaks mansion where, the Chronicle's Stan Redding noted, she "became known as a charming hostess, entertaining visiting opera stars and other celebrities, and taking active part in civic, cultural and charitable causes." The year after they married, Jacques Mossler was touched by the story of a Chicago father who had murdered his wife and one of their children, then taken his other four children "on a two-day ride of terror before being captured." Mossler adopted the four children. Redding wrote that it was "one of the great ironies of life that three of them, Martha, Danny and Edward, were out with their adopted mother when their adopted father was found murdered in his Florida apartment." The fourth was in a Texas summer camp. Powers also lived in the Mossler mansion for several years. Candace Mossler said her husband "was grooming him to take over the business" but ultimately threw him out "because Mel wanted to go on his own." Police found pictures showing Mrs. Mossler and Powers in nightclubs and on ski slopes. In letters, she professed her love for Powers, but later said it was no different than similar sentiments written to other relatives. The evidence was circumstantial, but strong: Powers was in Miami the night of the murder; his fingerprints were found in Mossler's apartment on nearby Key Biscayne and in a car similar to one seen driven from the murder scene; bloodstains matching Mossler's blood were found in that car. Also, "fairly fresh blood" was found on clothes Powers was wearing when he returned to Houston. But the blood could not be identified. It also seemed convenient that while Mossler was being killed, his wife happened to be out with the children in the middle of the night, became ill and had to go to an emergency room. Prosecution witnesses testified that Mrs. Mossler had been at odds with her husband since 1964 over his decision to move his business office from Houston to Miami and said that if she were to gain control, she would move it back. After roughly two months of testimony and legal wrangling, the case went to the 12-man jury in early March. Two days later, on its seventh ballot, the jury acquitted both Mrs. Mossler and her nephew, Mr. Powers. After the verdict, Candace Mossler kissed every juror. In 1971 Mrs. Mossler married Barnet W. Garrison, an electrical contractor. He was 33, and she then was claiming to be 50 but actually was 57. They lived in her River Oaks mansion. One night the next year he came home and found himself locked out. He fell while trying to climb up to her third-story bedroom and suffered disabling injuries. They were divorced in 1975. The next year Mossler died of natural causes while on business in Florida. She was found in her room in a Miami Beach hotel. She was 62.
2115 River Oaks Boulevard,
wrtintx (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
2115 River Oak Boulevard. Correct spelling of last name is di Portanova. The estate ws purchased by Azar and Ebrahim Delpassand in July 2002 from the di Portanova estate. Harris County Appraisal District shows the residence to have 9,334 square feet of living space with 16 rooms, including 7 bedrooms and a current market value of $5,320,100.00 and a current appraised value of $4,840,000.00. People have been gossiping about the place ever since its 1970s redo, while the disenfranchised Italian baron waged his protracted legal battle for a piece of his Cullen relatives' oil-wildcatting gadzillions (his mother, Lillie, was the eldest daughter of Cullen patriarch Hugh Roy). Enrique won and devoted himself to proving that living flamboyantly is the best revenge. In a splendidly Houstonian conclusion to a classic fairy-tale plot, Ricky (as he's known to his jet-setting circle) married a Lamar High School beauty, Sandra Hovas, and began transforming a simple French pavilion on the city's most expensive street into a baronial palazzo crowned with pineapple finials. He bricked over the front yard and planted a cavorting-cupid fountain dead center; he staked out his budding imperial universe with a lavish wrought-iron wall sprouting still more stone pineapples. Even among the mock palaces lining the look-at-me boulevard, the di Portanova mansion called attention to itself. Ricky had the profoundly Texan inspiration to enclose and air-condition his entire backyard -- roofing it over, swimming pool and all, with a chandelier-hung skylight that spanned from the mansion's rear wall to an outlying guest house.
2124 River Oaks Blvd.,
wrtintx
wrote
17 years ago:
2124 River Oak Blvd. This mansion was designed by the architect John Staub and built in 1938. The mansion was added on to in 1981/82 and now totals more than 21,000 square feet of living space, including 15 rooms (4 bedrooms, 11 full bathrooms and 4 half bathrooms.) There are staff quarters above the 4 car garage. The estate encompasses 3.2 acres. The estate was purchased from Earl P. Burke, Jr by Fayez and Linda Sarofim in 1994. Linda Sarofim was awarded the house when the Sarofims divorced in 1997 (total divorce settlement for Linda was in the neighborhood of $60-million). Linda later took on a new husband (18 years younger than she), but she died in May 2000 at age 47, while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with him. A battle over her fortune erupted, as she had left two wills: an earlier one that divided her $100 million estate evenly among her four children and a newer one that cut their take to give 20% to her new husband, a 29-year-old former law clerk named Mason Lowe. Harris County Central Appraisal District now shows the owner as Fayez Sarofim.
Allen House Apartment Pool,
any (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
good place 2 live
Allen House Apartment,
any (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
good place 2 live
100 Waugh Drive,
any (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
Good place 2 work
919 Milam Building,
william (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
Now simply known as 919 Milam
Rice University Police Department and Post Office,
htowninsomniac
wrote
17 years ago:
This building was misidentified as School of Continuing Studies (SCS). In truth, it houses the police department and the post office. The SCS is on the other side of the road, in the building more to the South.
Waugh Bridge Bat Colony,
landersn
wrote
17 years ago:
This is interesting to see... The 'flock' leaves the bridge around sunset and resembles a fast, amorphous cloud rising over the skyline.
Coleman Mental Health & Rehabilitation Center,
photolitherland (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
i just escaped from there a few days ago. Dont tell anyone im missing, im currently humping a sheep
Uptown District,
photolitherland (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
tallest building outside of a central busines district is located here. Williams Towers, 945 or somethin like that ft tall
Memorial Park,
photolitherland (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
awesome for mountain biking!
Kashmere High School,
photolitherland (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
watch out, dont let your kid go here
Irvington Courts,
photolitherland (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
the ghetto, home of rap and shootings
Old Chinatown,
photolitherland (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
you could get shot here
Harris County Public Library: Kingwood Branch,
photolitherland (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
one of the crapiest libraries in all of texas, a place where WOW kids hang out
Riverwood Middle School,
photolitherland (guest)
wrote
17 years ago:
place where all the richers go to school
West Alabama Icehouse,
mjladen (guest)
wrote
18 years ago:
hot dog night rocks.. the icehouse is the best place to meet all kinds of cool people - even if you're not cool.. they buried the old icehouse dog - stray - on the grounds. How cool is that.
Richmont Square Apartments,
mjladen (guest)
wrote
18 years ago:
richmont square is close to the cstore, the fiesta, and the west alabama icehouse it rocks
Doyle's,
pizza_fan (guest)
wrote
18 years ago:
The pizza at Doyle's is by far the best in the neighborhood.
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