Dallas residential architect, Steve Chambers, designed this rural ‘forever’ farmhouse for a couple lured from big city living to Texas’ famed Hill Country. Uplifted ironstone domes, hilly grasslands, and wooded canyons cut by spring-fed rivers form its signature landscape on the Edwards Plateau. Many are drawn to its rusty-red bluffs, surprisingly blunt ravines, snug canyons, and rock-strewn ranchlands. But few things in Texas compare to the fine craftsmanship of the Hill Country’s German towns and the creative people who built them. The Hill Country is a geographic, emotional, and architectural Texas treasure.

Conceptual Sketch of Texas Hill Country Home in Mason County

Dallas Architect, Steve Chambers, Meeting with Clients at Site to Discuss Location for the Ranch Home

This ranch in Mason County features an ironstone exterior similar to the local historic structures in the town of Mason. The other characteristics of its Hill Country architecture are: standing seam metal roof; raised front porch; simple early Texas forms of gables and shed roof; and screened porch. A special feature of this home is the galvanized steel water cistern, a fixture for years in the parched Southwest landscape, which here is repurposed for use as a bar—a modern version of the ‘watering hole.’ The Texas farmhouse’s location takes advantage of its spectacular long vistas into the surrounding hill and the welcome prevailing breezes.

Hill Country Indigenous Plant: Cat’s Claw

An Example of the Ironstone Structures on the Town Square in Mason, Texas

Photo credits: Stephanie Chambers, Dale Henry

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