Willowisp

I don't know if you've read my posts about this house.  It is certainly one of the most important of Bill Jenkins's houses and also the one in the saddest state (but still standing).  Ben Hill and I have a deal that if either of us wins the lottery we will show up at this house with an offer they can't refuse...  I have knocked on the door several times. Interesting that you got an answer.  I knew the house was still in the original owner's family and that it's just kind of falling down slowly.  I have only talked to neighbors and a gardener or a worker there.  The worker or a neighbor told me that someone had vintage photos, which made it all the more intriguing to me.  I don't check this forum often.  Oddly enough I just checked it today because I was looking for info on another Jenkins house that someone asked Houston Mod about.  If you want to get ahold of me and talk Jenkins feel free any time, but more likely you can get ahold of me through info@houstonmod.org or Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/jasonsmith94

Jason

Here's a suggestion from a Board Member:

Are the doors in need of repair due to age or are there other mitigating issues such as structural changes due to the settling of the house, etc.

I can suggest a very good G.C. which would in this case would be a much better bet than having a repairman address the sliding doors.

Contact information for Gary Briggs/R.A. Briggs & Co.:

Office: 713-467-2468

Cell: 713-204-5268

Email: gbriggs@rabriggsco.com

I'll ask a couple of guys on the Houston Mod Board about this. At our last meeting we talked about a group called Preservation Texas so someone may know someone who does this kind of work. All it takes is finding that right person. I wouldn't give up on the old windows yet. Houston Mod doesn't officially recommend anyone though. It makes sense that you would find someone in CA quicker than in TX who fixes them, as most people here go to a new 2 pane window.

I have a neighbor with the similar issues, but I believe hers are steel instead of aluminum. I hope that she is able to save her doors instead of getting new ones. I haven't asked her lately if she is going to get them fixed.

The ones on my 1955 house were rusted out a long time ago and the previous owner replaced them with 2 pane aluminum doors, but they don't look as 50s as my neighbors' houses. At least they are not french doors or something like that.

It would be great to learn more about your house - architect, etc.

Jason

Hi all.

Our house has extensive amounts of floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows - all across the entire back of the house as well as large windows in all the bedrooms. They are Arcadia brand, high-quality doors and windows - Arcadia claims to have been the originator of the sliding glass door, but in any event it is clear that these were high-end products when our house was built in 1965.

We are suffering from an accumulation of minor issues that wew would like to address with the doors and windows - ranging from cracked panes of glass to damaged or missing weatherstripping to miscellaneous parts (the roller wheels on the doors, locks, etc.). Also, the exterior services don't look their best after all these years, being somewhat corroded looking from exposure to the elements.

Replacing all of the windows and doors seems likely to be prohibitively expensive. Even if we did, we would most likely want to stick with the style that we have in order to maintain the design. The only advantage that I can see would be the improvement in thermal properties that we could achieve, and that's not all that attractive to us.

So, I'm hoping that there's a qualified service provider out there who can refurbish our Arcadias in place. I've seen at least one other person who offers this service - in the Bay Area in California - so I'm hoping that there's someone in this vicinity who might be able to help. From what I've read, it might cost only 10 to 20% of the cost of new doors and windows to refurbish the perfectly wonderful Arcadias that we already own.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations or alternatives you might have to offer.

Incredible event!

I didn't have a lot to do with the planning or execution of the event as work has been hectic and free time has been fleeting lately, but I went on the tour and was blown away by what all the volunteers and homeowners did. I had seen two of the Colgate houses before, and they have been restored and renovated so well. The vintage cars were such a great touch too. The Santa Elena houses were also above and beyond what I expected.

Thanks to everyone who went to the event and supports Houston Mod. It's been an amazing last couple of years for us and we're going to keep working at showing Houston what beauty lies in our modern architectural past.

Jason

TONIGHT!

Houston Mod should buy this as a clubhouse and a way to show off the architects' restoration skills! Not that we have the money to do anything like that...

Dropped to 120,000!!!

July 4, 2010

Maher House – Barnstone and Aubry

Barnes House – William R. Jenkins

3843 N. Braeswood Blvd. – unknown architect - if you know the architect, please let me know.

Here's a link to the old listing.

Only 2 shots of the outside. The rest is of the lot. It reminds me a little of 950 Kirby, another Kamrath, which as far as I know has been sitting vacant for quite some time.

It's the most expensive one-story house for sale in Meyerland under 4000 square feet. But it's on a pretty big lot. I'd say give it a chance and see what you think.

That is a spectacular mod, and dare I say a good price for it? I've probably been looking at Memorial area homes for too long to think over $500k is a decent deal.

Here are the latest additions:

Congregation Emanu El – MacKie and Kamrath

Gonzalez House - MacKie and Kamrath

Oak Forest Library – Goleman & Rolfe

Shell Pipe Line Co. Buildings – Cowell & Neuhaus

Bolton House – Preston Bolton

Faith American Lutheran Church – Travis Broesche

Davis House – Edward Davis

Weldon Cafeteria – MacKie and Kamrath

Settegast Apartments (Harwood Court) – Neuhaus and Taylor

MFAH – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (photos, no description yet)

Gordon House – Added vintage photos

ENJOY!

Jason

Check it out.

9007 Manhattan

Hi all,

Yeah, it's gotten slow on here lately. I take full responsibility. Here's some news that should cheer you up.

Bryan Batt, the actor who plays Salvatore Romano on MAD MEN will be coming to Houston to promote his book, She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mother: A Memoir at 7pm on Tuesday, July 13 at the Borders on the corner of West Alabama and Kirby.

Link to event

Bryan happens to be the cousin of a friend of mine and he is excited about the Houston Mod connection. He would love to meet design-oriented people as he owns Hazlenut, a design shop (mostly not mid-century modern) in New Orleans. I'm hoping all the Houston Mod members and friends will make it out to say hi.

Thanks,

Jason

I don't know. I so rarely like "neo mid-century" - though my favorites have been Anderson Todd, Strasser Ragni, and m+a studio...

Sorry, been too busy to check this message board this week. I'll try to get her to do that or find out if she put photos of the project somewhere online already.

I want to publicly thank Russell and the other Board Members of Houston Mod who put in so much time on organizing our Mod Month events. The film was great last night and put a capper on an amazing month. The best feeling is that when I watched the Shulman and the Lautner films I identified with so many of the people in the films who have restored and preserved historical houses. We are doing something special here in Houston. I'm happy to be doing my part.

A lot of the Dow House windows are sliding glass door units. If your house's structure can handle it then go for it. When was your house built? A friend of mine lives in the Stallworth House by William Floyd:

http://www.houstonmod.org/bldg_detail.asp?id=59&by=arch&seled=William%20N.%20Floyd

She is an architect and remodeled the house. They had a little bit of glass on the back of the house (I think they had one sliding glass door), but then took it to the next level with a lot more. I think they had to reinforce the structure somehow. It not only looks period correct, but better than it ever did. It looks like Floyd probably would have wanted it to if he had no restrictions on funds. I don't have interior pics, but she'd probably be willing to show you.

Jason

I would like to add more about this building as well as the SOM building that remains next door, but know nothing about it. This info came out of Cite.

http://www.houstonmod.org/bldg_detail.asp?id=133&by=lost&ss=1

Was this a private sale or did anyone know it was for sale? We never did a mod of the month there did we?

Looking at the plans, it seems like a very cute and efficient (small) Eichler-like house with only one bathroom. The coolest bedroom for me is the one with the sliders out to the patio, but that bedroom is actually smaller so I assume it's not the master. I can't tell if the back bedrooms have any doors to the outside, but it's not likely. Is that photo on the the site the only recent photo?

OK... just read the Memorial Bend site. Someone had already made the patio into another room, which makes it a tough sell to a restorer unless they want to rip it out to get the patio back. The loss of the house is very tough, and I never take that lightly as you know, but it would probably have been quite an ordeal to restore it, don't you think?

Houses like this were so great and people did so much to mess with them over the years! There's a Floyd down the street from me that had a workshop addition put onto the back. I don't know what will happen with that house in the future, but it's very Memorial Bend like.

Look at this as an example of a house I would consider. It's about the same price, though a completely different area. Willow Meadows is more traditional than Memorial Bend, but there are a lot less tear downs so far. Unless you work in the energy corridor/Westchase, I would consider Willow Meadows a more convenient location. I'm biased though, it's my area.

Take a long look at that kitchen because unless someone who "GETS IT" buys this house, the kitchen is a goner.

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?MLNUM=35918594

I would thank you and wish you the best in restoring this house, but I don't have that kind of energy or patience. I would look for a house that's not nearly as far gone as this and save a lot of money and time. ...Coming from someone who spent too much money on a restoration and can still look around his house and see a hundred other things that need doing.

I'm intrigued by the idea of restoring a home like this, not to it's original design but to it's original design intent. The colonial pastiche may be decoration but there are some rather momentous programmatic shifts in owners and their valuations. The facade is the most glaring example of programmatic shifts, and if I were to redesign the home I would have to seriously consider the based assumptions of the programmatic shifts as part of the home's evolution; even if those changes may have been on the surface ill informed. Beautiful home before, average home after, & perhaps beautiful again with the proper vision.

You must not visit the Houston Mod forum very often. This house is a classic case of trying to turn a house into something it isn't and stripping it of it's original architectural intent. Most people may not think that's a big deal, but those who love the 50s modern ranch style like to see houses stay in that style. Once that style is gone, it's pretty tough to get it back, or at least it's cost prohibitive. It's not my taste to try to turn a traditional house into a modern house or vice versa, though I've seen a few nice examples of traditional houses being made "modern".

Furthermore, there's an especially sensitive component here because it's in Memorial Bend, a neighborhood which has been taken apart lately.

Gee, the place looks good to me. What am i missing?

In interviewing him, he mentioned being affected by the new architecture of San Francisco where he was stationed in the military. It was around WW2 as I recall that he saw this and was influenced to start designing in the contemporary country style. What we are finding is that he became one of Houston's most prolific residential architects of medium to large contemporary ranch houses. I wouldn't think he was connected much to Philip Johnson in his style. He was more Frank Lloyd Wright influenced. He was extremely humble considering how much he produced. It was a great honor to meet him and talk to him.

So, it's the 3 year anniversary for this topic!

This is great stuff, you are documenting the most important architectural history of Houston. Do you have a sense of when he began building modern styles? The earliest date I saw was from the late 40s. Was he building modern houses at the same time or before the DeMenil house?

Thanks to Lisa Gray for pointing this out.

Somebody save this baby.

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=75389228

I asked Stephen Fox and he replied: "The City of Houston's building on Main and Stuart is where building permit type records are kept. I've been told they will do plan searches if you pay so much per hour. You might contact Randy Pace, the City of Houston's Preservation Officer, to see if he knows what sort of documents exist there and how easily accessible they are. Randy's e-mail is: Randy.Pace@cityofhouston.net" But don't everyone go start bugging Randy Pace all the sudden...

Also, some neighborhoods keep plans. Meyerland's are available to check out for a deposit. I'm planning on diving into that this summer.