Official Random Cool House Thread

[craigster59]

Inside Modernism Week's Showpiece: The 1959 Seva House - Curbed Inside - Curbed LA

[Rtrorkt]

As an architect it is heartening to see such interest in architecture

[URY914]

[R K T]

[Hcarraro]

In 1988 I bought a 40' wide by 35' tall by 160' long red iron building out of the Alamo Cement Plant industrial complex in San Antonio, TX from King Salvage. I paid $1.00 a square foot for the 7,000 square foot building. I paid $2.00 a square foot to have the building dismantled and moved to my ranch property 16 miles Southwest of Austin, TX. Equal distance between Kyle, Driftwood and Wimberley, Texas.

I hired Lake Flato Architects out of San Antonio, TX help me make a home out of the industrial structure. The results won them a Gold Medal Award in Architecture and me a wonderful home and environment in which to provide shelter, a place to entertain and to enjoy.

Henry

[Evans, Marv]

Henry, more pics ???

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Rtrorkt

As an architect it is heartening to see such interest in architecture

Yes it is.

Originally Posted by Hcarraro

The results won them a Gold Medal Award in Architecture and me a wonderful home and environment in which to provide shelter, a place to entertain and to enjoy.

Henry

Henry is a supporter of the arts, and apparently a wise investor (architecture and P-cars).

[daepp]

Wow Henry - what a great looking place, and a great story to boot!

In the first shot, is that a breezeway? Would that be a moderne dogtrot?

[Embraer]

really want to see more pictures!!

Originally Posted by Hcarraro

In 1988 I bought a 40' wide by 35' tall by 160' long red iron building out of the Alamo Cement Plant industrial complex in San Antonio, TX from King Salvage. I paid $1.00 a square foot for the 7,000 square foot building. I paid $2.00 a square foot to have the building dismantled and moved to my ranch property 16 miles Southwest of Austin, TX. Equal distance between Kyle, Driftwood and Wimberley, Texas.

I hired Lake Flato Architects out of San Antonio, TX help me make a home out of the industrial structure. The results won them a Gold Medal Award in Architecture and me a wonderful home and environment in which to provide shelter, a place to entertain and to enjoy.

Henry






really want to see more pictures!

[Hcarraro]

Thanks for your interest in architecture and the house I built in the hill country of Texas. Look closely at the pictures. Lots of interesting design features. Mike noticed the "dog trot" or more commonly referred to as a breeze way. The screened porch is 1,800 feet. Twenty feet to the eaves and 35 foot at ends of the structure. The floor covered is with bricks on packed sand.

Many many things came from the cement plant. My goal was to reduce the cost of the construction by salvaging materials that we could use in the process. I walked the abandoned industrial complex with a roll of yellow plastic ribbon marking things I wanted to buy. Pennies no the dollar.

For example, the hand rails you see in the second picture were found atop a massive diesel engine. The engine as a German made flat head 5 cylinder diesel at least 8 foot across the cylinder head and about 48 feet long. There were 4 of these giant engines as I recall.

The hand rails surrounded the top of the engines and were there to keep the mechanics from falling off the top of engine. The steel hand rails were molded and machined. It is hard to see but the horizontal rods screwed into the molded and machined vertical part. I found them simply elegant and bought enough to what I wanted.

I had a computer crash and lost most all of the pictures of the construction and the finished product. The folks I sold the house before retiring in Arkansas created a web site. See the link below:

The web site they created is The Plant at Kyle


There are numerous pictures on the website and show the the building standing at the Alamo Cement Plant. It was called the "tool shed" and is where they made specialty tools and replacement parts to keep this 1,000 acre industrial complex going. At the time it was the oldest cement plant west of the Mississippi River.

You can also Google "The Carraro House" or the architecture firm Lake Flato in San Antonio, TX and find pictures and stories. The house has been published in several architecture books and dozens of magazines. It was a Metropolitan Home of the Year award winner as well as the Gold Medal winner at the AIA convention in 1990 at a black tie event at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

Again thanks for your interest in architecture and the story behind this house.

Henry

javascript:winopen('http://forums.pelicanparts.com/upload.html')

[VincentVega]

Way cool. I watched a show on HGTV or similar about the house, very impressive.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Hcarraro

1989..............

You can also Google "The Carraro House" or the architecture firm Lake Flato in San Antonio, TX and find pictures and stories. The house has been published in several architecture books and dozens of magazines. It was a Metropolitan Home of the Year award winner as well as the Gold Medal winner at the AIA convention in 1990

I was working full time for an architect in 1989 and going to school full time. I had this one week sketch problem for a house.

The instructor said to solve suburban malaise or something to that effect, we discussed the eyesore of R/V's and boats in the front driveway in one class session.

I was inspired by the image of an old mine shaft entry during the Gold Rush, and selected my own program of storing a sail boat in the middle of the house.

GKA PLLC Architect Photos by kach22i | Photobucket



I think it has a few things in common with the Carraro House, but I don't recall seeing it before - then again it was many years ago.

[URY914]

[URY914]

[URY914]

[URY914]

[kach22i]

Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed Massaro House and Private Island For Sale in NY! | Inhabitat New York City

[daepp]

Originally Posted by Hcarraro

[URY914]

[URY914]