Tanglewood 1971 Mod Tour 6-27-21

SpaceAge · June 25, 2021

June Mod of the Month

Houston Mod invites you to join us Sunday,
June 27th for a Mod of the Month open house event from 1:00-4:00 PM.

Masks are suggested to be worn for this event.
Please resist touching surfaces and maintain 6 feet of social distancing

Please help find a new preservation-minded owner for this vintage modern house in the Tanglewood area, located approximately 10 miles west of downtown Houston.

Thanks to Houston MODern Market for sponsoring this FREE event.

5710 Indian Circle Street, Indian Trail Section 3, Houston, TX 77057
HAR Link | Google Map

Records show this eye-catching and well situated vintage modern house was built in 1971 by John Knerr for Dawson Sterling of American General Life Insurance Company. It is an early example (for Houston) of Shed Style architecture which began at Sea Ranch in 1965. Features of the Shed Style include seamless roof to wall intersections, overall asymmetry with strong lines, recessed main entrance and a one to two story height. Passive solar design elements like masonry flooring and stone walls were incorporated on the more innovative examples.

Prolific mid-century architect Lucian Hood, Jr. is credited with designing this house which shows little relation to his earlier modern works. By this point in his career he designed mostly traditionally styled houses. While still in school at the University of Houston, Hood worked for architect Philip Willard who had a large office and employed other Hood classmates such as Lars Bang, the Brooks brothers, the Flynn twins, and A. Carroll Brodnax. They gleefully attempted upstaging their architecture professor Howard Barnstone in the field whenever possible. Hood later partnered with Lars Bang where they designed and built several office buildings for Kenneth Schnitzer. Later Hood established his own firm where he worked mostly alone but sometimes with his son Lucian T. Hood who is an architect now working in the Los Angeles area. Lucian Hood, Jr. had tremendous graphic abilities and created captivating architecture. His extensive archives are now preserved, facilitated in part by Houston Mod, at the University of Houston Special Collections library.

If you have more information about these, or other vintage modern houses and/or architects, please contact Houston Mod so we can include it in our Modern Houston Index on our new website.

The Mod Squad will be on hand at Sunday's event to assist with membership and publication purchases. After Alden: Midcentury Architecture in Brazosport, Texas, Houston Mod's new publication by Marty Merritt with a forward by Stephen Fox and photography by Benjamin Hill, will be available at Sunday's event along with our other publications. Or, you may purchase a copy online at our website.

More Mod News

A deluxe mod for sale in Beaumont, 80 minutes east of Houston: 2655 Thomas Road.

Wayne Thom has donated his photo archives to USC which has just published a book on his work. The buildings as captured in his photos are spectacular. Link to the YouTube photography presentation.

Lost and found mod demonstration house- Gregory Ain's 1950 demonstration house built in the MOMA garden, and thought lost. But it wasn't lost. It was auctioned off in 1950, moved up the Hudson, and forgotten. The current owners discovered it in 1979 and have been joyously living in it ever since. Link to the New York Times article.

How should the Astrodome be reused? Please help our friends at the Astrodome Conservancy by taking their Future Dome survey by July 9th.

Houston Mod is a friend organization of Docomomo US, a national non-profit organization dedicated to the Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement. Docomomo US has been dedicated to this mission for nearly 25 years as a chapter of Docomomo International. A single Docomomo US Domestic membership may be added to any Houston Mod membership for the 50% discounted Friend Organization rate of $45.00.

Houston Mod is a nonprofit 501 (c) (3) membership organization dedicated to promoting knowledge and appreciation of modern architecture and design in Houston and Texas. Houston Mod advocates the preservation of this cultural legacy and seeks support from its members and the general public in achieving this goal.