Big and Modern on Lazy Lane: John Arnold Tries House Trading

Perspective View of House at 2950 Lazy Lane, Designed by Alexander Gorlin

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, had been designed by Houston architect Birdsall Briscoe in collaboration with John Staub, who was building 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 — 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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Drawing of House at 2950 Lazy Lane, Designed by Alexander Gorlin

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.

Interior Rendering of House at 2950 Lazy Lane, Designed by Alexander Gorlin

View of House at 2950 Lazy Lane, Designed by Alexander Gorlin

And here are some shots of Dogwoods, on the outs:

View of Dogwoods, Estate Formerly at 2950 Lazy Lane, Homewoods, River Oaks, HoustonView of Dogwoods, Estate Formerly at 2950 Lazy Lane, Homewoods, River Oaks, Houston

View of Dogwoods, Estate Formerly at 2950 Lazy Lane, Homewoods, River Oaks, Houston

Photos of Dogwoods demolition: CLEAN

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