Architectural Gems...Where are they?

[JustMefromLA]

So, I've just moved to Houston and really love this forum...So much info! In HAIF En Espanol I read that there is a house by Luis Barragan...Any one know where it is? Besides this house, what other notable buildings are located in this city?

[Subdude]

The Barragan project was never built . It would have been adjacent to the Menil Museum, but the design Barragan submitted was too large for the space. The closest Barragan of which I'm aware is the library in San Antonio.

We could all come up with what we think are other notable buildings, but I would toss out

Downtown: Pennzoil, Bank of America, Gulf Building

University of Saint Thomas: Menil Collection, Byzantine Fresco Chapel, St Basil by Phllip Johnson

MFAH - Mies wing, not the rest

Transco

And welcome to the forum!

[rps324]

Go down to Bookstop & buy the Architectural Guide to Houston.

[HeightsGuy]

I believe there's a Frank Lloyd Wright somewhere in Bunker Hill Village but I've never tracked it down. Someone else may know the story on it.

[new major on the block]

There is a Frank Lloyd Wright style house on South Blvd. It is listed in the homes section of the Houston Chronicle. It is owned by Richard Maier Properties. I do not know if it is a misprint and they mean Richard Meier the architect or if it is a completly different Richard altogether.

[nmainguy]

I believe there's a Frank Lloyd Wright somewhere in Bunker Hill Village but I've never tracked it down. Someone else may know the story on it.

This is a long paste but relevant to the topic. I have no idea what became of this house but I've saved it just for an occasion such as this.

Houston Journal; A House With a History May Not Have a Future Published: April 21, 1991

HOUSTON, April 20 -

The sounds of demolition are now as familiar in the forested suburb of Bunker Hill Village as the sounds of new construction. "Teardowns," old and not-so-old houses bought for their property and then pounded into rubble to make room for new ones, have become the rage here.

On one lot in this well-to-do enclave, at the end of a street aptly named Tall Oaks, sits a low, white concrete-block house that, like some of its neighbors, may soon face the bulldozer. That is causing quite a stir among preservationists, because the house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Thaxton House, named for William Thaxton, the insurance executive who commissioned it in 1954, is probably not among Wright's most unusual works, or his most outstanding, or his most anything. But it is the only building in Houston designed by America's most influential architect.

The house is up for sale, with the intention that it be torn down and new houses built on its tree-studded 1.2 acres of land. The asking price is $535,000, and in an area where a half-acre lists for $300,000, real estate agents say it would be a bargain even if it did not have a pedigree.

A developer has made an offer, said E.J. McCoy, the listing agent. So has an "avid Houston preservationist," who wants to restore it. Several people are looking into moving the house to less valuable land. He said he thinks the house's chances for survival are "about 50-50."

"Some people have called and asked, if it is torn down, can they have a piece of it," said Mr. McCoy. Indeed, Frank Lloyd Wright artifacts have become a considerable industry around the country, with fabrics, furniture, stained glass and decorative sculpture from his designs bringing high prices.

Wright enthusiasts are aghast at the possibility of demolition. "I don't think the work of a great master should ever be destroyed," Carla Lind, executive director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy in Oak Park, Ill., said in a telephone interview. The conservancy is a clearing house for information about Wright buildings, of which there are about 417. Three more are in Texas: private homes in Dallas and Amarillo, and the Dallas Theater Center, all built in the 1950's, the last decade of Wright's 70-year career. Wright died in 1959.

"These houses are part of our national artistic legacy," Ms. Lind said. "Would you tear up any Picasso or any van Gogh?"

"I think it is wonderful that Frank Lloyd Wright properties mean so much to some people," said Brian Nevins, who bought Thaxton House eight years ago but has never lived in it. He said he had intended to build on the land but found another house for himself. "It is not up to me what happens to the house. I cannot be judgmental about what the purchaser chooses to do with it."

Seen from above, Thaxton House is an 1,800-square-foot parallelogram. It is a modest dwelling, made more so by time and some architectural indignities it has suffered over the years. Neo-classic finials in the shape of pineapples have been added to the corners of the flat roof. The custom furniture, which Wright designed to mesh with the building's geometric shape, was torn out long ago. Interior redwood walls have been painted white and -- horrors to Wright purists -- ionic columns installed. Before the audacious columns, the building included no right angles.

Wright enthusiasts say renovation could undo the unfortunate compromises in the architectural style. Indeed, much of Wright's vision appears to have survived. Except for a glass entryway, the front wall is windowless, though the back is filled with windows. The interior stone floor seems to flow from out doors. An outdoor swimming pool abuts the master bedroom. Mr. Thaxton said Wright planned to build part of the pool inside but was dissuaded by him.

Mr. Thaxton said it cost $125,000 to build the house, an astronomical sum at the time. The amount included Wright's $25,000 fee. "You didn't work with Mr. Wright," Mr. Thaxton said. "You presented Mr. Wright with a piece of property."

Mr. Thaxton said he has mixed emotions about the possibility of demolition. "If it was still in its original state, and had not been cannibalized until it is not really the house Mr. Wright had in mind, I would feel pretty bad about it," he said. "I guess I do kind of hope that someone will buy it and restore it, though I don't think anyone will. The money grabbers will get it, I'm afraid."