house B

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The owners have lived at this 1925 home for over 20 years. Though they made extensive modifications to the interior and exterior of the house years ago, they had done much less to their gardens, pool, or front and back yards. In 2020, they engaged a landscape architect to update and reimagine the property by creating a more inviting entry drive on the front of the house and building a garden wall to create a private pool and garden area with several new structures on the bluff edge of the house. Special emphasis was given to opening up the property's expansive vistas to the west. 

The work began on the front side of the house facing Broad Avenue. The original semicircular concrete drive was replaced by a larger rectangular field of granite cobblestone and several large trees directly in front of the house were removed and replaced with more formal delineations of low boxwood hedges punctuated by large topiary globes and a mix of trees and plants to provide color and scale. 

Walking through the new garden wall gate, one transitions from the semi-public front garden to a private retreat framed by an inviting rectilinear plan beginning with a crushed stone path through an allee of tall crape myrtles with a fountain in the center. The path leads to the long pool which in turn leads straight to the Pool House with its covered loggia providing an on-axis view to the west. For the Pool House, the owner engaged Darin Norman and Ted Gupton as the architects. The parties all had a shared vision of a pavilion, to terminate the axis established by the formal garden and pool, and an overlook to the expansive view of the west fork of the Trinity River valley below. The solution was a Texas "dog trot" plan rendered as a classic garden folly to complement the house. Imagery was shared and concepts developed in close collaboration between owner and architect. Due to the positioning of the new pool within the garden setting, the space for the Pool House was set with its west face taken to the edge of the newly built retaining wall and columned loggia cantilevered beyond the wall into the expansive view. 

The architect's inspiration for this accessory structure was the open-air covered loggia connecting the library and office pavilion at the Villa del Balbianello overlooking Lake Como in Italy, with similar dramatic siting, view, and three components. In this Pool House, there is the office on one side and on the other a changing room/bath on the front and the kitchen/bar on the back side, all opening onto and serving the loggia. 

While the Trinity River is not Lake Como, the expansive view and cooling breeze afforded in through the loggia go a long way to temper the Texas climate and invite the owner to relax in a calm and reflective covered setting. 

The owners found additional inspiration from the tennis pavilion at the White House. The Palladian windows, flat roofline, stone horizontal trim, and columned center all were adopted from this building with the major departure being the addition of the loggia providing dramatic views and airiness, as described above. 

To match the main house, the Pool House was finished in painted brick and the columns are wood fluted Doric columns. Similarly, the lanterns in the loggia match those on the main house. 

The bluestone decking of the pool is trimmed with Leuders limestone. These stone finishes were carried into the Pool House with limestone steps and a carpet-like patterned limestone and bluestone flooring of the loggia. 

PROJECT SIZE

600 SF  Conditioned  SF  |  900 SF  Total SF 

PROJECT TYPE

New Construction | Free Standing

COMPLETION DATE

2024

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN TEAM MEMBERS

Theodore Gupton, AIA | Darin Norman | Bruce Berger | Michael West 

PROJECT CONSULTANTS

Structural Engineer: Charles E. Grossman

PROJECT CONSULTANTS

General Contractor: Ingean Construction, Inc.

PROJECT CONSULTANTS

Interior Designer: Walton & Walton

PROJECT CONSULTANTS

Landscape Architect: Armstrong Berger | Fowlkes Norman

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

Theodore Gupton | David Porter