BenH

It ain't gonna be pretty.

Well, whatever goes up there will most assuredly be crap.

Michael Halbouty Energy Offices in the Galleria - 5111 Westheimer Road - Demolished. Landscaping by C.C. "Pat" Fleming. These are Houston Post and Houston Chronicle articles. The George C. Hardin mentioned in the second article was also one of Vale's residential clients. Farmer's State Bank of Brookshire - Brookshire,TX - Year and Address Unknown Also either Houston Chronicle or Houston Post. Again, Jason Smith did all the legwork for these articles. I'm just posting them. Spring Branch High School The house featured below the school is the original design for the Sammy Finger house at 3403 N. Parkwood Dr. in Riverside Terrace.

John C. Weston House - 3001 Inwood - Courtesy of Architectural Digest - Photographer unknown Weston owned the Suniland Furniture Company

J.M. Richardson House - 3971 Inverness - Early 1950's - Demolished in 83' or 84'. Courtesy of Architectural Digest. Photos by Maynard L. Parker.

Did Jason mention to buy the book?

There was a police officer standing less than five feet from me who watched the whole thing and didn't say a word.

Right, especially if the work the RDA Tours. What a bunch of jerks. Not everyone of course, only the lady that was working the driveway table on Saturday afternoon at the Carlos Jiminez house.

This house will be looking for a buyer shortly. Here's some background from a message Houston Mod received this morning: In July of 1954 a wealthy surgeon from River Oaks named Dr. Hampton Robinson, Jr. started buying large tracts of land near the community of DeWalt Texas. He was very well familiar with the area, as his father was a cattleman and lifelong resident of Missouri City. His mother was from the DeWalt family and had grown up in the old family plantation house that was located just south of the DeWalt Cemetery. Most of the land Dr. Robinson purchased was owned by descendants of the Dew family, who was once headed by Dr. Hugh Dew, a physician. However, Dr. Dew's main interest was not medicine, it was building the Dew Brothers Company. During the course of many years in the early 1900's, he accumulated massive amounts of property in Fort Bend County and used it for sugar cane, cotton, and cattle. Over the years the land was divided and was passed on to his family. Two of the these descendants that Dr. Robinson bought property from were Ruth Lalley and Jesse Dew Agnew. His goal when buying the land was to acquire ".... enough acreage in the area for its future development by others as a first class residential subdivision, with among other things, recreational facilities, customary sized residential lots and commercial reserves." When he purchased the property it was being used primarily for ranching. After acquiring it, he continued the ranching operation and also made many improvements. The first big one on his newly proclaimed Robinson Farm was a Palm Springs, California inspired mansion located on what is now Hampton Drive. This desert style house, with its flat roof and expansive layout, was designed by modern architect William F. Cody and completed in 1958. It took about 1.5 years to construct, with materials such as the stone exterior being sourced as far away as Santa Maria, California. At the time it was built, it was meant to serve only as a summer or weekend home. Other improvements to the Robinson Farm included a massive tree planting. About 1500 live oaks hand were hand dug from Pleak, Texas and planted in 1961 and 1962. These oaks can be still found today following the path of Hampton Drive. Dr. Robinson also constructed a small one story house and a horse stable by the lake on what is now Thunderbird Street. For many years the house was occupied by his brother, Joe Robinson. As early as 1959, Dr. Robinson started meeting with developers about the idea of developing a golf course on this selective property. The first group was the Houston Golf Association, along with their consultant - a former pro golfer and coach named Henry Ransom. The second was a group of developers/investors led by golfing legend Ben Hogan. Hogan and the investors even took a hayride tour of the property during the mid 1960's, but the deal failed. It made it all of the way to the final closing, but fine print was never worked out and the agreement wasn't reached. The third party involved James "Mac" MacNaughton and R.W. Carey, also known as Mac-Carey Properties. After negotiating with Dr. Robinson, they finalized the purchase of about 750 acres which was to become the new subdivision of Quail Valley. In May 1969 they also bought out several other smaller landowners including a Houston dentist named Mack Daughtery, who had a 40 acre horse ranch and house at what is now Cartwright and Oak Hill Drive. However, the family did not sell their home site and barn, and the neighborhood was built around it. Mac-Carey also purchased about 69 acres from Walter and Lillie Dew Brinkman. For years the couple operated a large chicken egg farm along Oyster Creek, close to what is now Quail Valley Middle School . At its peak, the Brinkman Egg Farm was home to over 30,000 egg-laying chickens. Within a few months of these transactions, Quail Valley became the first master-planned community in Fort Bend County when the plat for the El Dorado section of Quail Valley was approved by Missouri City on October 16th, 1969.

Added two more houses.

I can't believe they're still building the damn things. Who has that kind of money to build spec?

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y

Arthur and Madalyn Miller House - 1002 East Ave, Katy,TX. I noticed this house last night while on a drive in the area, and it looks a lot like the other two Katy Vale houses in terms of materials. Could be added to Vale's entry on the organic modern in Texas thread. It appears to be an excellent design; it has the big stone chimney in the back, which is obscured by the roof in these pictures. EDIT: The daughter of the original owners confirmed in an email today that this is indeed a Vale design. It was built in the 1950's. Hopefully more information will be forthcoming. 2445 - Woods Road - Jordan House - Brookshire,TX Despite the view from the front, this house is actually huge, but it stretches back into the lot. Very much a rancher. Looks to have been built in the mid- to late 40's.

I drove by earlier today. It doesn't look like anything special. At least there isn't junk stacked to the ceiling though.

It's still on the market, I think. Hopefully the buyer that was interested will be able to get it soon.

I'd appreciate it anyone who has a 1960's city directory could look up 37 E. Rivercrest to see who the original owner of this house was. It appears to be a very large custom rancher, on par with some of Cliff May's work. It is completely invisible from the street. Here's an overhead shot: http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r85/zoomanderson/37ERivercrest.jpg?t=1236876921 The house is currently owned by John R. Hewett Jr., who appears to have owned the house since HCAD began keeping records. HCAD says 1965 and that has 10 rooms. This bring up a subject that I've been particularly interested in for a while now: what architects built large, custom ranch houses in Houston during the mid-20th century? I know the ranch was the style of choice for most residential construction, but who made did it especially well (besides Wylie W. Vale)? Any help would be most appreciated (and I already have Alan Hess' book The Ranch House. Thanks.

602 Pinehaven - W.M. Andrews house - 1953 (HCAD)

I was going for a lot of stuff, but you're right about the fishpond.

God and weather permitting...

I'm guessing Jenkins! (Willowisp knows why). Seriously, though, it's pretty hard to tell without a good exterior photo.

Dr. F. Schudy House - 1957. http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y

The realtor told me that the original structure isn't that old. More like 1880's-1890's.

Two, actually. This is Vale's first independent work, additions to a house built in the 1800's: http://www.luxuryportfolio.com/property/bu...setting_lot.cfm I took forever to find since I didn't know what to look for.