This massive 20,000-sq.-ft. home featured on New York Architect Alexander Gorlin’s website is under construction at 2950 Lazy Lane in River Oaks. The Museum of Fine Arts’ Bayou Bend Collection is next door.
Gorlin’s client is the youngest member of the Forbes 400 list of the Richest Americans (he’s number 317): 34-year-old former Enron trader John Arnold, who now runs secretive Centaurus Energy, a small but extraordinarily successful hedge fund company that trades energy commodities.
Four years ago, Arnold bought a recently renovated 1926 home in the French Norman manorial style in the Homewoods subdivision of River Oaks. The home, which had sat on the market for close to three years, was designed by Houston architect Birdsall Briscoe in collaboration with John Staub, who also built the Bayou Bend estate for the children of former Texas governor James Hogg next door. Briscoe’s creation was dubbed “Dogwoods” by Hogg’s son Michael, who lived there for many years with his wife.
A year after purchasing Dogwoods — currently valued by HCAD at $4.9 million — Arnold angered River Oaks preservationists by tearing it down.
After the jump, more illustrations of the house John Arnold will be trading into, plus a few photos of the one he didn’t leave behind.
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According to Gorlin’s description, the residence
is an interprestation of the home as cubist landscape. Through a series of interior and exterior courts, the house opens into the site, presenting a variety of images from within and without. From the front entrance, the home’s grandeur and depth are emphasized, while a sculptural composition of geometric forms frames the surrounding expanse. From other vantage points the structure appears more compressed and shallow, like a flat canvass.
And here are some shots of Dogwoods, on the outs:
- Houston Residence [Alexander Gorlin Architects, via HAIF]
- River Oaks Prepares to lose historic home [CLEAN]
- Historic River Oaks Home To Be Demolished, Group To Hold Vigil [River Oaks Examiner, via CLEAN]
- Former Enron trader to raze historic home [Houston Chronicle]
- #317 John Arnold [Forbes]
- Energy Trading, Post-Enron [New York Times]
- Bayou Bend [Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]
Photos of Dogwoods demolition: CLEAN
3 Comments
Another over paid a**h*** !
I toured this house prior to demolition. Frankly, not much was in good shape, the layout was terrible, the views were non-existent, and the foundation was on the verge of collapse. The only item that was of note was the iron staircase railing.
The Houston Historical Society was requested to: 1) Field verify the entire house prior to demolition to obtain exact dimensions to maintain records of the design and 2) to take whatever they felt necessary to help preserve the architectural elements for posterity. They did neither. The only thing they did was stage a candlelight vigil. Worthless.
Frankly, if you are a proponent of saving historical buildings, you should be upset with the City of Houston, Harris County, or The State of Texas for not implementing more stringent ordinances or laws prohibiting the demolition of our architectural history.
Mr. Arnold had every right to do what he did in order to build his dream home.
His dream home is ugly and it appears to have a moat.