noob mod Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 Hi, I'm new here. I was up wasting time indulging my curiosities on the web, when I should be in bed. I know very little about architecture, and less about "mod", but I'm interested in learning more because I live in a house that seems "mod" to me, and I think it's a fairly unique one at that.I'd rather not post my address, but my house is a Memorial-area 1965 vintage one-story, with a very low-rise roof line, all brick across the street side, all glass across the rear facing a ravine. The bedrooms are rather small, including the master, and the floor plan is very open, with no interior doors other than bedroom and bathroom, and with numerous floor-to-ceiling sliding glass exterior doors and windows. The floors are wood throughout the house with the exception of the bedrooms, but I have my doubts as to whether they were originally wood. I looked for an area on your site that might list FAQ's, but I don't see one. I wanted to find information on the house and the architect, particularly because I had heard that the house was designed by an architect who lived in the Memorial area for his parents. Where do you locate info re the architect, original floor plans, etc. ? (I believe the floor plan may have been modified somewhat, so I would like to see what was originally planned). I'd appreciate any guidance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willowisp Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 Welcome to the board!One of the sad things (especially in the new world of information that we now live in) is that a lot of this kind of information is hard to find, at least it's time consuming for a particular house anyway. I'm new to it too, and it's a difficult task to find any information even on the more well known architects. One of the goals of Houston Mod is to make the info less difficult to find. They're working on a new website that should be something that lots of people can add to. If your house plans weren't handed down to you from former owners, I think it may be hard to get them. We have some of ours, but not the complete set.The best information in one volume is Stephen Fox's Houston Architecture Guide. You might want to buy it if you are really interested in learning about Houston architecture. Otherwise, you can find it at the library. Who knows, your house may just be in there... How long have you lived there? You can also go through newspapers of the time your house was built, but there's no index and it's a time consuming and daunting process, though fun.It sounds like you own a beautiful house. I'm curious to know more about it now too. My wife and I took the day off yesterday and drove around the Memorial area and we saw some really nice houses (again). We also found some torn down...Maybe you could email Ben Koush or Stephen Fox personally (their addresses are on houstonmod.org) and tell them your address and they might know. Also, you could knock on a few doors around the neighborhood (other mod looking homes) and see what they know.Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceAge Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 (edited) When I first started searching for information about my house, the Memorial Bend site by texasdago, a member of HAIF, was the place I found most helpful.The site is very valuable as it is loaded with information about architects that had projects all over the memorial area and throughout Houston. It will take hours, but view all the photographs and you may find some houses which resemble yours. You can search your address on Google. If it is even partially visible from the street, I imagine texasdago has a photograph of it somewhere on the net. If you have some idea of the architects name, you can search for it at the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners (TBAE). There you can find if he is still practicing in Texas or when his license expired and possibly his last known address and when he was first certified. Also, you can contact the title company that was used to perform the title search when you purchased your house and get the names of all the previous owners. You can then see if you can locate them to see what information they may remember. If the title company refuses to help you (they can be very uncooperative but you paid for that information and it belongs to you) the downtown library has directories which list the residents of your house by street address. This is all very time consuming but can be very rewarding. Edited March 8, 2006 by SpaceAge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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