Apparently that huge mansion on 528 in Friendswood that Chuck Norris used to live in burned to the ground last night.

Gotta admit - surprised that it was only worth $2.6MM as stated in the article - would assume it was way more than that given the size of it.

Big Fire

That appears to be the appraisal value of the structure itself. The land it sits on is probably worth we'll north of that.

ETA: I see the article references that it is the tax appraised value.

It was 50 acres at one time but the government built a retention pond on the back along the creek a few years ago. I am sure that they have an ag exemption for most of the land.

That place was literally my dream home. The guy that owns it owns the bay way car dealerships.

I drove by this morning and all that is left is the chimneys and brick porches

There's got to be a good Chuck Norris joke opportunity here somewhere

suburban cowboy said:

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There's got to be a good Chuck Norris joke opportunity here somewhere

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Chuck Norris built the chimney

The house finally realized Chuck Norris was never coming back.

I use to drive by that place every day when I worked in Alvin. It definitely was a dream type house to want. Hate seeing this.

I went to high school with the daughter of the original owner. I think he was a senior exec or ceo of a major home builder...maybe Pulte or something? The story I read somewhere was that when it was built, he didn't want to pay to run a city water connection all the way down the private road back to the house, so it was on well water. He also declined the FD's suggestion to add a sprinkler system during construction. Both combined made it hard to fight the fire, and having lightning around prevented them from being able to use the ladder trucks to get above it.

ETA: Just looked, and he was one of the founders of General Homes back in the early 70s and now owns Cervelle Homes.

Of all the mansions to burn down, why not those creepy Branch Dividian monstrosities south of Pearland?

Oh dang, I loved that house, especially when the property is illuminated at Christmas time.

I never knew Walker Texas Ranger lived there though. I'll have to pour one out next time I'm at CenterCourt.

TriAg2010 said:

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Of all the mansions to burn down, why not those creepy Branch Dividian monstrosities south of Pearland?

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Which ones? I guess I don't know about these.

https://www.countryliving.com/real-estate/news/a43543/manvel-texas-mansion-veterans-facility/

Chuck Norris never lived in that house. KHOU is incorrect. Cervelle built it and lived in it for years. He then sold it to some people who rented it out for weddings and stuff. They sold to the guy who owns all the BayWay car dealerships years ago. He is the current owner.

Been driving by that place for 20+ years, I was always told it was the Chuck Norris house. I think that is just urban legend, recently heard it was on an episode of Walker TX Ranger and that is where the whole thing started.

reveille23 said:

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Been driving by that place for 20+ years, I was always told it was the Chuck Norris house. I think that is just urban legend, recently heard it was on an episode of Walker TX Ranger and that is where the whole thing started.

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My cousins went to Friendswood HS, they said that was always part of the story about that house.

Doesn't make it true, but it's been part of the rumors and story about that house for well over 25 years.

schmellba99 said:

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reveille23 said:

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Been driving by that place for 20+ years, I was always told it was the Chuck Norris house. I think that is just urban legend, recently heard it was on an episode of Walker TX Ranger and that is where the whole thing started.

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My cousins went to Friendswood HS, they said that was always part of the story about that house.

Doesn't make it true, but it's been part of the rumors and story about that house for well over 25 years.

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Indeed.

It's the story those of us from Manvel/Alvin were told as we frequently ran up/down 528

clintaggie04 said:

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Chuck Norris never lived in that house. KHOU is incorrect. Cervelle built it and lived in it for years. He then sold it to some people who rented it out for weddings and stuff. They sold to the guy who owns all the BayWay car dealerships years ago. He is the current owner.

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Actually the original builder was Jeff Payson, who now owns Cervelle.

I know. When I said Cervelle I meant the owner of Cervelle, like someone posted earlier. I have known Jeff for years.

Yeah, the rumor I was always told was that Chuck Norris rented the house for a short while during the filming of the movie "Sidekicks." Probably all BS, but it fit the story since part of "Sidekicks" was filmed down here somewhere.