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BenH

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    Wylie W. Vale

    in Architects, Developers, Builders, and Designs

    Posted

    Michael Halbouty Energy Offices in the Galleria - 5111 Westheimer Road - Demolished. Landscaping by C.C. "Pat" Fleming.

    1956June24HalboutyandofficebyNeuhau.jpg?t=1239382254

    1956Sept16Halbouty.jpg?t=1239382323

    1956Sept23HalboutyInteriors-1.jpg?t=1239382450

    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

    1953Aug30BrookshireBank.jpg?t=1239382526

    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

    1952Aug10ChronSpringBranch.jpg?t=1239382749

    The house featured below the school is the original design for the Sammy Finger house at 3403 N. Parkwood Dr. in Riverside Terrace.

    Home At 10920 Willowisp Dr.

    in Houston Mod

    Posted

    I will make a check with the other owners on that. But I think the answer is yes, as long as they are "for your personal use only" and the owners privacy is respected. The houses are very photogenic so I can't blame anyone for wanting their own shots, but some of the owners are private people. And these days everyone is a little suspicious of photographers, right, Ben? :D

    Jason

    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.

    Hampton Robinson Mansion At 3033 Hampton Dr.

    in Historic Houston

    Posted

    It is incredible!! I wish I had my camera with me a few years ago when I hopped the fence and took a peek inside. No one was living there at the time, however, there were several pieces of furniture inside including a grand piano.

    There is another thread about this house under Sugarland and the Southwest, The Robinson House in Quail Valley.

    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.

    • Like 1

    Wylie W. Vale

    in Architects, Developers, Builders, and Designs

    Posted · Edited by BenH

    Arthur and Madalyn Miller House - 1002 East Ave, Katy,TX.

    _MG_0404.jpg?t=1238990663

    _MG_0401.jpg?t=1238990718

    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

    _MG_0420.jpg?t=1238990753

    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.

    Home At 37 East Rivercrest Dr.

    in Houston Mod

    Posted

    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.

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