Stephen B. Chambers

This client was interested in creating a home that evokes the character and architecture of childhood memories of the ranch homes in her native West Texas.   The dimensions, shape, and location of the corner lot in a densely populated urban community that was purchased by the owners confined the design of a wide open rambling Texas home similar to the ranches of this region and left little room for the desired 4-car garage and pool.  The architect’s solution was to use proportions, details, and materials indicative of early Texas architecture:  standing seam metal roofing, Leuder’s limestone quarried near the owner’s childhood home, use of step downs, setbacks, and roof changes to give the appearance of a home added to over years, synthetic plaster wall finish and thick walls evocative of plaster over solid masonry, interior structural stone walls and flooring, exposed rafter tails, oak doors and windows with hand-wrought hardware and pocket screens.  The 4–car garage was split into two, 2-car garages: one attached; the other detached from the home, providing privacy around a narrow pool and court.  The resulting home is refined stone ranch, reminiscent of early Texas ‘dogtrot’ houses.