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  Neil Armstrong's home in El Lago, Texas

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Author Topic:   Neil Armstrong's home in El Lago, Texas
Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 51027
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-06-2020 01:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The family home of Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong in El Lago, Texas is now on the market for $375,000, reports the Houston Chronicle.
The Armstrong family lived in El Lago for most of the 1960's, during NASA's Apollo and Gemini missions, leading all the way up to 1971, when Neil retired and left NASA.

The home is listed by the Loken Group, a team of real estate agents working out of Keller Williams Platinum Office. See the full listing here.

4allmankind
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Posts: 1095
From: Dallas
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 07-06-2020 03:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for 4allmankind   Click Here to Email 4allmankind     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I drove past this home recently to take some photos. Quite impressive.

Let’s all invest together and turn it into a space fans' Graceland.

thisismills
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Posts: 499
From: Michigan
Registered: Mar 2012

posted 07-06-2020 05:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for thisismills   Click Here to Email thisismills     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A cool house, the listing photos show an updated interior, and added detached garage. If a space fan ends up as the new owner, here is the shot to recreate the office.

4allmankind
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Posts: 1095
From: Dallas
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 07-06-2020 05:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for 4allmankind   Click Here to Email 4allmankind     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I’ve always loved that shot, Jeff. Some random space artifacts laying around, including what I believe are his GT-8 spacesuit patches leaned up on its side on the top right. A heatshield at the top and his spacecraft ID presentation from McDonnell directly in front of him. Wow.

SpaceAholic
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Posts: 5270
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-06-2020 05:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Based on the diving board its likely the Brady Bunch lived in close proximity.

Philip
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Posts: 6225
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 07-08-2020 08:14 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What a place of history!

star61
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Posts: 311
From: Bristol UK
Registered: Jan 2005

posted 07-08-2020 10:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for star61   Click Here to Email star61     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Was it rebuilt exactly as original after the fire?

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 51027
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-08-2020 10:52 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
According to Janet Armstrong, as cited by Jim Hansen in "First Man":
We couldn't afford not to [rebuild on the same lot]. By the time we went to rebuild, the building costs had gone up so high that they rebuilt the same house for us, minus the slab, for an increase in price.

GoesTo11
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Posts: 1369
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 07-08-2020 08:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for GoesTo11   Click Here to Email GoesTo11     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'd love this house even without the history

Buel
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Posts: 885
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012

posted 07-12-2020 06:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Buel   Click Here to Email Buel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by 4allmankind:
I Let’s all invest together and turn it into a space fans' Graceland.
How many members are there on here?

Charlie16
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Posts: 543
From: Italy
Registered: Dec 2010

posted 07-13-2020 02:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Charlie16   Click Here to Email Charlie16     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I saw the Armstrong's house in 2012 with Fred Haise. We took a tour to visit the Apollo-era astronauts' homes and also give a salute to John Young! Great emotions as you can imagine.

If I could buy it, I would have done it already.

Jonnyed
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Posts: 609
From: Dumfries, VA, USA
Registered: Aug 2014

posted 07-14-2020 03:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jonnyed   Click Here to Email Jonnyed     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
While the photos show a very clean bright house, I'm wondering if there's any moondust caught in the cracks somewhere there.

Gordon Eliot Reade
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Posts: 254
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 05-07-2022 09:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was very fortunate in that I was given a private tour of this house only a few weeks ago. And yes, it had a very strong “Brady Bunch” feel to it. My favorite feature was the stone fireplace. It takes up one complete wall of the living room and is comprised of rocks of different colors, sizes and shapes and thus serves as a sort of “finger print.” By comparing it to vintage photos from LIFE Magazine you can identify the individual stones and confirm for yourself that this is indeed genuine. It’s the Armstrong house. I was wonderstruck thinking of the conversations that had taken place in that room.

I really enjoyed the back patio, the swimming pool had been re-plastered and given a new diving board but was otherwise completely original. I was told that a frequent visitor was George Abbey who would sit beside the pool with Armstrong and the two men would discuss their concerns about the up coming Apollo 11 mission.

Armstrong’s home office looked exactly the same but all of his personal effects were long gone. The kitchen had been completely remodeled and updated and although it was beautiful I was disappointed. I’d seen photos of Neil Armstrong in the original kitchen wearing a silly apron and chef’s toque as he proudly showed off his famous fresh baked pizza. No frozen pizza here. The kitchen is now unrecognizable.

What can we deduce about the house’s first owner? Clearly Neil Armstrong liked cars and he liked working on them as well. There’s an attached three car garage with plenty of space for work benches, tools and auto parts. This is a true auto mechanic’s garage.

But a subsequent owner liked cars even more than Armstrong. There’s a second detached garage suited to be a professional auto repair shop. It has three high bays each with twenty foot ceilings. If you installed lifts you could stack cars one atop the other.

Also quite interesting was a small empty shelf in the living room. It looked out of place but I was told that it once held the NASA “squawk box” a device that provided a live audio feed from mission control during space missions. I got the impression that the Armstrong squawk box was first installed for Gemini 8 but was left in place and operational throughout the remaining Gemini and Apollo missions. I had always thought that the device was only used for families of the current flight crew but I can see how it’d be useful for members of the backup and support crews to keep abreast of current events while at home.

It’s been said that during the Gemini 8 emergency NASA deactivated the Armstrong’s squawk box so as to not upset Jan Armstrong. This had the opposite effect. Understandably conceded she rushed to mission control which was only three miles away but was barred from entry. This upset her all the more.

Some of the windows of the house had been frosted over to prevent people from looking in but otherwise there were no security measures what so ever, at least none that I could see. And this wasn’t a gated community. Armstrong’s address was never a secret. Apparently anyone could just walk up and ring the doorbell. All this seems quite unbelievable today.

I was told that the film makers of the Neil Armstrong biography FIRST MAN asked (and offered to pay) to film the Armstrong family scenes in the house but the previous owner declined. I don’t know why.

If I owned the house I’d use it as an Airbnb or Vrbo vacation home. Visitors from Germany or France or the UK or California could return home and tell their friends and family that they stayed in Neil Armstrong’s house. That’d be neat!

Gordon Eliot Reade
Member

Posts: 254
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 08-16-2023 05:59 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
There's one other thing that should be noted about this house. It wasn't simply bought and lived in by Neil and Jan Armstrong and their children. With the help of an architect it was designed by Neil and Jan Armstrong. It was created by them and that makes it all the more significant.

stsmithva
Member

Posts: 2087
From: Fairfax, VA
Registered: Feb 2007

posted 09-09-2023 08:48 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for stsmithva   Click Here to Email stsmithva     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Back on the market, as of Aug. 31, 2023, this time for $550,000. Lots of details and good photos in this article.

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