My Story

10920 Willowisp Drive

My story (just posted this on HAIF, but thought I'd have it here too):

Two and a half years ago, I just wanted a house in Houston (not the burbs) with a lot of glass and I knew about what I wanted to pay for it. It was that desire that led me into the whole world of modern and Houston's moderns specifically. I didn't know any architects names, but liked the idea of owning a house with a well known architect behind it. After that, I discovered several very innovative Houston based architects from about 50 years ago, as well as architects around the US from that era that really fascinated me. One of them happened to be Philip Johnson, the architect of my favorite building when I was a kid, Pennzoil Place. Then I found out that some of the Houston architects knew and learned from Philip Johnson and it really became fascinating for me. I realized that they don't make 'em like this any more. A lot of the houses I am most interested were custom houses, but I also like the ones like in Memorial Bend that were often "on spec" ranch houses with a lot of modern flair to them, or modern for the masses like you find in California's Eichler Houses. Houses of this era used space efficicently for the nuclear family. I believe today's homes don't do it as well.

There's a bit of nostalgia and sense of history to it, and there's also a desire to get back to a craftsmanship that you don't see in houses these days. I know my house is well built. Friends of mine live in new houses. They are not all that bad, but not great either. I like to visit them, and they are new and lower maintenance than my house. But with my house there's really a feeling of accomplishment. You would get that feeling from restoring a craftsman too, but the craftsman wouldn't have the glass walls and links to Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, Howard Barnstone, Hugo Neuhaus, Harwood Taylor, and Anderson Todd that my house has and that the Memorial Bend houses have too. Now if you can go to the Farnsworth House, the Glass House, the de Menil House, the Gordon House, the Frame House, the Owsley House, and even the Caudill House in Memorial Bend and they don't move you, then I guess we just don't have the same sense of style and we can agree to disagree.

The houses Michael (from spacecitymod blog) is documenting are important, especially because there are so many moderns or at least modern influenced ranches in a small area, and they are extremely threatened as far as I'm concerned. Maybe a lot of people won't ever "get it" and it will get worse for the neighborhood and then the houses will be gone. Of course this is also his neighborhood and all the more reason to take pride in the homes.

I lived in an 1870 house for several years with my parents. I actually think my mom would have disliked my house, but she'd love that I'm happy in it and that I have a sense of pride in my home and its decor. My dad would love that the architect got his masters at A&M and he'd enjoy sitting on my strange and less than comfortable (to him) sofa to watch the bamboo grow from inside.

A lot of modern houses like are intentionally deceptive from the facade. They are private from the front and their flash is often on the back of the house. I have a great sense of anticipation when going into a mod for the first time, just wondering what is going to present itself.

Jason