The owner, Olajuwon Farms LLC, last week pulled permits to disconnect the mansion’s sewer system. This week, the owner pulled a permit to demolish the site, and crews started tearing the building down Nov. 21, said Natalie Herrera, real estate land use planner for Pasadena.
“The city does not know what is next for the site,” she said.
Herrera said she assumed the owner has decided to sell the property.
West Mansion became a Texas Historic Landmark in 1993 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, which gave the building certain protections. Those protections expired in 2014, Herrera said.
Residents on Facebook have expressed sadness, anger and surprise at the building’s demolition.
“It was [a surprise] to us, too,” Herrera said. “It’s not well-received.”
According to Preservation Texas, West Mansion is a 17,000-square-foot house that lumber, oil and ranching tycoons James and Jessie West had built for their 30,000-acre ranch in 1930.
