DEAR ABBY: Mom is desperate to stop teen’s violent outbursts. PAGE D4 HINTS FROM HELOISE: It’s easy to save for a stormy day. PAGE D4 Lawrence and Marie Simon stood side by side at the corner of their humble white bun- galow in 1909, posing for a photographer who’d seal their images in a black-and-white photo for later generations to see. Lawrence wore an austere, dark suit and Marie had her hair pinned up high, her skirt hanging to just above the ground. They were on what then was Baker Street in Montrose, a dirt road just off of Lincoln Street. Now it’s West Drew, and it’s accessed by a bigger, newer Montrose Boulevard, and the couple re-creating the scene for a new pho- tographer is Hilary and JoAnn Bellew. Hilary, the Simons’ grandson, grew up not far away on Jackson Street. Hilary, 74 and retired from a career in the medical device industry, re- members using an upstairs bedroom to study with his friends when they were students at the University of St. Thomas. While the Bellews have lived in other parts of the Houston area, Hilary’s roots are here on West Drew in this home that his family has owned since it was built 109 years ago. Marie Simon lived in it until she died in1971; after that, Hilary’s mother, Emma Bellew, lived in it until her own death in 2005 at the age of 95. The Bellews recently lived on the corner, keeping this little bungalow as their guest house until they decided it was time to give this slice of family history some contractor TLC and turn it back into their primary resi- dence. Courtesy of Hilary Bellew Lawrence and Marie Simon pose outside their Montrose home in1909. Grandson Hilary Bellew recently restored the home. Rejuvenating a Montrose bungalow Couple brings 109-year-old family home into 21st century with thoughtful update Diane Cowen / Houston Chronicle Hilary and JoAnn Bellew re-create a photo taken of Hilary’s grandparents when they built this Montrose home in 1909. Michael Hart In 1920, stairs to a new second floor were added at the back of the living room. By Diane Cowen Home continues on D6 Pretty much right after I adopted my elder- ly shih tzu kid Prince, people told me he should be an Instagram-famous dog. His kind eyes, re- laxed stoner demeanor, babe-magnet underbite and small limp with his front right leg make him almost overqualified. Quite simply, he’s got a double-tap friendly look. Any photo or video of Prince, either at the beach, at the dog park, or asleep on a pile of my clean clothes, deserves a like — and receives sev- eral. Anyone on Instagram probably follows at least a handful of celebrity dogs with names like TobyLittleDude, Ollie, Marnie, Jiff the Pom and Norbert, my own person- al favorite. They have more followers than everyone you will ever know combined, but not as many as a stray Kar- dashian. There is a rescued stray in Los Angeles named Popeye the Foo- die Dog that poses with food and wears cute clothes. That’s literally all he does. He has more Turn your pet into an Instagram star TobyLittleDude on Instagram TobyLittleDude, from Canada, is a 12-year-old Maltese that gets thousands of likes on Instagram. By Craig Hlavaty Pets continues on D6 Trick to fetching followers is to have good story The key difference be- tween an August Wilson production and a standard white or European period piece is that the Wilson play doesn’t sound anti- quated. In a Russian or British- origin play, actors love to adopt faux European ac- cents that make them sound both sophisticated and ridiculous. This hap- pens in 20th-century American works, like Ten- nessee Williams, as well. But good actors in good Wilson productions don’t sound like they’re in a historical re-enactment. That’s partly because actors of color don’t have the same expansive canon of affect and pretension — of white queens and white squires and white star-crossed balcony lovers — to draw from. It’s also because Wilson was a master of the ver- nacular, whose themes surrounding black identi- ty remain, unfortunately, timeless. His verbal rhythms carry an every- THEATER REVIEW ‘Ma Rainey’ has contemporary feel By Wei-Huan Chen Struggles continues on D2 STAR H HO OM ME E OUT AND ABOUT Ready to explore Houston? Plan your next adventure at houstonchronicle.com/ explore. BOOK Author takes readers on thrilling road trip across Texas in ‘Paper Ghosts.’ Page D2 Houston Chronicle @HoustonChron Houston Chronicle | Tuesday, May 15, 2018 | HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com Section D HH
Transcript
DEAR ABBY: Mom is desperate to stop teen’s violent outbursts. PAGE D4
HINTS FROM HELOISE: It’s easy to save for a stormy day. PAGE D4
Lawrence and Marie Simon stood side byside at the corner of their humble white bun-galow in 1909, posing for a photographerwho’d seal their images in a black-and-whitephoto for later generations to see. Lawrencewore an austere, dark suit and Marie had herhair pinned up high, her skirt hanging to justabove the ground.
They were on what then was Baker Streetin Montrose, a dirt road just off of LincolnStreet.
Now it’s West Drew, and it’s accessed by abigger, newer Montrose Boulevard, and thecouple re-creating the scene for a new pho-tographer is Hilary and JoAnn Bellew. Hilary,the Simons’ grandson, grew up not far awayon Jackson Street. Hilary, 74 and retired from
a career in the medical device industry, re-members using an upstairs bedroom to studywith his friends when they were students atthe University of St. Thomas.
While the Bellews have lived in other partsof the Houston area, Hilary’s roots are hereon West Drew in this home that his familyhas owned since it was built 109 years ago.Marie Simon lived in it until she died in 1971;after that, Hilary’s mother, Emma Bellew,lived in it until her own death in 2005 at theage of 95.
The Bellews recently lived on the corner,keeping this little bungalow as their guesthouse until they decided it was time to givethis slice of family history some contractorTLC and turn it back into their primary resi-dence.
Courtesy of Hilary BellewLawrence and Marie Simon pose outside their Montrose home in 1909.Grandson Hilary Bellew recently restored the home.
Rejuvenating a Montrose bungalowCouple brings 109-year-old family home into 21st century with thoughtful update
Diane Cowen / Houston ChronicleHilary and JoAnn Bellew re-create a photo taken of Hilary’s grandparents when they built this Montrose home in 1909.
Michael HartIn 1920, stairs to a new second floor wereadded at the back of the living room.
By Diane Cowen
Home continues on D6
Pretty much rightafter I adopted my elder-ly shih tzu kid Prince,people told me he shouldbe an Instagram-famousdog. His kind eyes, re-laxed stoner demeanor,babe-magnet underbiteand small limp with hisfront right leg make himalmost overqualified.
Quite simply, he’s got adouble-tap friendly look.Any photo or video ofPrince, either at thebeach, at the dog park,or asleep on a pile of my
clean clothes, deserves alike — and receives sev-eral.
Anyone on Instagramprobably follows at leasta handful of celebritydogs with names likeTobyLittleDude, Ollie,Marnie, Jiff the Pom andNorbert, my own person-al favorite. They havemore followers thaneveryone you will everknow combined, but notas many as a stray Kar-dashian.
There is a rescuedstray in Los Angelesnamed Popeye the Foo-die Dog that poses withfood and wears cuteclothes. That’s literallyall he does. He has more
Turn your pet into an Instagram star
TobyLittleDude on Instagram
TobyLittleDude, from Canada, is a 12-year-oldMaltese that gets thousands of likes on Instagram.
By Craig Hlavaty
Pets continues on D6
Trick to fetchingfollowers is tohave good story
The key difference be-tween an August Wilsonproduction and a standardwhite or European periodpiece is that the Wilsonplay doesn’t sound anti-quated.
In a Russian or British-origin play, actors love toadopt faux European ac-cents that make themsound both sophisticatedand ridiculous. This hap-pens in 20th-centuryAmerican works, like Ten-nessee Williams, as well.But good actors in good
Wilson productions don’tsound like they’re in ahistorical re-enactment.
That’s partly becauseactors of color don’t havethe same expansive canonof affect and pretension— of white queens andwhite squires and whitestar-crossed balconylovers — to draw from.It’s also because Wilsonwas a master of the ver-nacular, whose themessurrounding black identi-ty remain, unfortunately,timeless. His verbalrhythms carry an every-
Houston Chronicle @HoustonChron Houston Chronicle | Tuesday, May 15, 2018 | HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com Section D HH
D6 | Tuesday, May 15, 2018 | HoustonChronicle.com and chron.com | Houston Chronicle HH
COLLECT CALLS ACCEPTEDBONDS/PAYMENTS DONE
OVER THE PHONE
COX BAIL BONDSSERVING TEXAS SINCE 1990
713.222.7934LIC#74520
WWW.COXBONDING.COM
STAR
than 315,000 followers.Come to think of it,
that’s what most Insta-gram human “models”do anyway.
TobyLittleDude’s own-er, Joyce, tells me that theorigin of the 12-year-oldCanadian hipster dog’sinternet fame is rathersimple.
“Toby and I were sit-ting at Starbucks on asunny day. I put my sun-glasses on Toby for funand noticed he didn’tmind wearing them,” shesays. “I took a photo andposted it to my Insta-gram page.”
This was before Tobyhad his own Instagram,she notes, and that photogot more likes than anyother photo she hadposted of herself. He nowhas over 156,000 follow-ers for his own account.
“He’s been recognizeda few times in public, butit doesn’t happen thatoften,” she says. “I thinkpeople are used to seeinghim in his dark-framedglasses.”
But how does one go
about making a dog acelebrity? How do I turnmy 13-pound roommateinto a celebrity so we canget invited to hot partiesat bars in Midtown andChick-Fil-A store open-ings? How do Prince andI become millionaires forthe rest of his life?
Believe it or not, thereis an expert, of sorts, onhow to make a dog Insta-famous.
Richard Wong, vicepresident of marketingand creator relations atinfluencer marketingplatform #paid, tells methat the key to setting adog apart from other IGdogs is personality.
“Your dog should rep-resent more than just acute photo. Help conveywhat your dog loves todo, create a central themearound what your dog
does, eats and where ittravels to,” Wong says.
Prince sleeps, pees ontrees and tires, listens toGrateful Dead bootlegs,eats carrot sticks andBeggin’ Strips, and usu-ally travels abroad tosuch exotic locales asPearland and Friend-swood.
Can we get some sortdog food/Nike/Red Bullthing going? Maybe a
line of toys that look likehim?
“Sponsorships canwork in many differentways, although the mostsuccessful campaigns areboth monetary and prod-uct,” Wong says. “Theteam behind every ac-count should have theproduct to try, test andinclude in the content,but monetary compensa-tion ensures they’re com-
pensated fairly for theirwork and ensures there’sa contractual agreementin place.”
What sort of dogs dothe best on Instagram?Should they be palm-sizeor at least purse-size?
“The type of dogs don’tmatter as much as thestorytelling behind it,”Wong says. “Aside fromthat, unique-lookingdogs are some of thetop-performing pet ac-counts on Instagram.”
Unique? Like an elder-ly toy shih tzu with aprominent underbitebeing lead around by atattooed bald guy typical-ly dressed like a roadiefor Keith Urban?
To steal a line fromPastor Joel Osteen, Ithink Prince and I areabout to start living ourbest lives now.
Pets need good backstory — cute photos — to earn celebrity statusPets from page D1
Craig Hlavaty / Houston Chronicle
Prince Hlavaty uses his cute underbite and a slightlimp to charm those around him.
Jiff Pom on Instagram
JiffPom, one of the most popular pups on Instagram,has an ever-changing wardrobe.
work throughout the home.“Hilary’s a somewhat rare
bird in that he was so commit-ted to salvaging and reusingwindows, millwork and otherfeatures of the home,” Hellyersaid.
An old bathtub that wasoriginal to the home but sat inthe backyard for at least 15years was restored and re-enameled for the master bath-room.
Upstairs, the two guestrooms finally got a nice, newbathroom that runs along theroof line on the east side of thehome. And the second-floorspace was extended on top ofthe new addition, addingsquare footage to the backbedroom and creating finishedstorage space, too.
It’s nostalgia that broughtHilary and his wife, JoAnn, 75,back to this home. It’s full ofgood memories and familyhistory.
One day, he opened a trunkthat was stored upstairs to findnearly crumbling HoustonChronicle clippings with blar-ing headlines about the bomb-ing of Pearl Harbor. Therewere old family photos, too,one showing Lawrence Simonat work at the Texas New Orle-ans Railroad and anothershowing Schnell and his be-loved horse, Blaze, along theGuadalupe River with a group
of cowboys.There were boxes of his
great-grandfather’s old medicalequipment, leading Hilary tospeculate that he might havetreated patients while he livedhere.
Life was hard when thishome was built, and the Bel-lews are grateful it’s easiertoday.
Hilary recalls that his grand-mother used an old-fashionediron on everything in the homeand every piece of clothing thatanyone wore. Sheets, pillow-cases, every inch of fabric wasironed.
“I remember in the 1950swhen the canned biscuits —the kind that pop out of the can— came out. Oh, my grand-mother loved those. Beforethat, she got up and made bis-cuits every day. Then the in-stant coffee, oh, she loved it,too,” Hilary said.
When the home was built,closets were small, mostlybecause people didn’t haveextensive wardrobes like wehave today. Hilary’s grand-mother sewed everything herchildren wore and many thingsher grandchildren wore — andshe made it by hand, not with asewing machine.
“My grandmother couldmake anything. When I was ingrade school, she made myshirts,” he said. “And the floursacks, they were made intothings. When you came homewith your new school books,she sewed flour sack clothsinto book covers to keep thebooks nice. They didn’t havemuch money, and they werevery thrifty.”
It’s not just the structurethat’s part of the Simon-Bellewfamily history. It’s also filledwith things that three genera-tions have used on a daily ba-sis.
In the foyer, there’s an oldchair with legs, arms and backrimmed with animal horns.Pure Texana, you’ll spot it onthe porch in a sepia-tonedphoto of Dr. Schnell’s home inComfort, likely taken in thelate 1800s. There are otherpieces of furniture that hisgrandparents owned, and fam-ily photos that span five gener-ations, from Schnell to theSimons to Hilary and JoAnnand their two children, daugh-ter Renee and son Ryan, aswell as Ryan’s two young sons,Joseph and Henry.
The dining room table waspurchased when the Bellewsfirst married and at least acouple of chandeliers havefollowed the couple from hometo home.
Hilary Bellew said that heand his wife expect to live hereuntil they die, just as his par-ents and grandparents did. “Ifanybody doesn’t understandhow much I put into doing thisand getting it done, the amountof time, effort and drawings toget it right,” he said, smilingand shaking his head at thesame time. “It was a house thathadn’t really been touched inalmost 100 years.”
Back in 1909, the home hadjust four rooms — a livingroom and dining room, kitchenand a single bedroom — in1,000 square feet. They hadelectricity but no indoorplumbing. A lean-to on the sideof the house was their icehouse, with a French drain —essentially a rock-covered hole— where water from the icedrained into the ground. In thebackyard was a small barnwhere the Simons kept theirhorse and buggy — HenryFord had just introduced hisModel T’s, so few peopleowned automobiles then.
In 1920, after the Simons hadchildren, they added a narrowstaircase to the back of theliving room, leading to twobedrooms and a tiny half bath-room upstairs. And indoorplumbing was added, too, in an8-foot room at the back of thehouse.
Hilary jokes that the upstairsbathroom was so small thatyou had to open its window tolean forward to wash yourface, and when you bent over,your backside went out to thehallway.
But that was life in Houstonin the early years of the 20thcentury.
Hilary and JoAnn Bellewwanted to save his family’shistoric home but live in it ontheir own modern terms. Theystarted work in the summer of2016, and on Aug. 1, 2017, theyspent the first night in theirrenovated and expanded home.
While Hilary started some ofthe work himself — removinglayers of wallpaper and cheese-cloth revealed the home’s origi-nal shiplap — he knew heneeded a professional. Not onlywas a full-home restoration abig job, but the home alsoneeded to be completely re-wired and re-plumbed.
Rob Hellyer of Premier Re-modeling was called in, andafter getting through the de-sign phase and a tricky permit-ting phase — because the homewas built 109 years ago and hadnever been sold, it lacked acertain kind of deed they need-ed for the permits — they gotto work.
The original front door wason the side of the home andentered directly into the livingroom. They moved that door tothe front of the home and, inthe process, created a foyer.The kitchen got a completemakeover, and space once de-voted to a bedroom allowed fora laundry room and newdownstairs powder room.
At the back of the home is anew 27-foot-by-27-foot spacethat includes a master bed-room and bathroom and amorning room that has a wetbar, built in storage cabinetsand room for a small, roundwalnut table that once be-longed to Hilary’s great-grand-father, Joseph H. Schnell, whowas a physician in Comfortand who lived in the homeafter he retired.
The home’s old-growth pinefloors were covered in layers of
paint, and the goal was to re-finish them to their originalluster, then add matching re-claimed pine to the new part ofthe home.
Hellyer said his fingers werecrossed on that one, since they
really had no idea what wasunder all of that paint and thefloors had never been refin-ished. In fact, the flooring isglorious, with the wood’sstrong grain showing throughon the floors and in other mill-
Home has been in the same family since 1909Home from page D1
Michael Hart photos
Contractor Rob Hellyer of Premier Remodeling found reclaimed old-growth pine flooring for thebedroom, matching what was in the original part of the home.
A whole new kitchen gives a contemporary update to this109-year-old Montrose home.
