August 2022 Mod of the Month Part 2

August 21, 2022
503 Timber Terrace Road, Houston, TX 77024

Houston Mod invites you to join us this Sunday, August 21, 2022
for a Mod of the Month open house event from 2 – 4 PM.

Please help find new preservation minded owners for these outstanding vintage modern houses located in Memorial, about 9 miles west of downtown Houston.

Thanks to Houston MODern Market for sponsoring this FREE event.

 HAR Link   |   Google Map

Clean lines and flowing spaces are found in this well designed and constructed vintage modern house by architect Philip Willard, located in an idyllic Memorial area setting.  Expansive window walls provide views in every direction making it a perfect place to experience nature.  Other notable features are the dramatic extended fireplace, spiral staircase, interior stone walls, nifty display areas, built in refrigerator and freezer and roof deck overlooking the wooded ravine and setting sun. Willard constructed the house of extremely durable brick and masonry materials. Even the roof is concrete. The house was expanded by the addition of several well-integrated rooms by talented designer Adrian Flake.

Philip Gordon Willard (1913-1993) was from San Antonio and a 1934 graduate of the University of Texas. He was first registered to practice architecture in Texas in 1937. He moved to Houston from Ft. Worth around 1945 and opened a successful firm where he employed many of the top students from the UH College of Architecture. He developed a masonry construction system called ceramic construction; buildings constructed using the technique are highly acclaimed.  He designed and built houses, office buildings and retail centers. Willard developed the Timber Terrace neighborhood, designing and building many of its houses. Houston Mod’s latest publication details more of his work.

Adrian Flake (1915-2005) was an artist and designer.  He began his career at Texas Neon Sign Company where he designed such landmarks as the Houston Shoe Hospital sign and the neon fronts of the Alabama, Tower, and other theaters. Later he designed and constructed custom homes.

 

11406 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77024 (Drive-by only)
HAR Link | Google Map

This is a significant and prominently sited vintage modern house by architect Wylie Vale which appears to still have many of its interesting original details. The house is in Piney Point Village, a community Vale helped organize. Wylie Vale (1916-2013) was a Rice graduate who designed over 400 mostly upscale houses, 100 plus schools, almost 50 churches plus other buildings.  His work is detailed on the Houston Mod forum here. 

If you have information about this house or other vintage mod designs, please share it with Houston Mod so it can be included in the Modern in Houston archive.