‘Time capsule’ homes take off
‘Time capsule houses’ can thrive if new owners have a love for an old style
New homes appear to thrive with owners’ old-time style.
ROSS Bynum started his search for a home in Houston last year by telling his real estate agent: Forget the granite counter-tops and stainless steel appliances. Don’t worry about shiny new floors or fresh paint jobs.
“All the stuff other people would want to tear out — those ugly pink-tile counters and wood-paneled walls — that’s exactly what I want,” Bynum said.
After looking at a handful of houses in different stages of preservation, the 29-year-old closed on his dream home for $103,000 in Glenbrook Valley earlier this year. It’s somewhat of a fixer-upper, but he’s now only the second owner of the 1950s-era house.
“It hadn’t been renovated. It has the original tile, the original counter top, hardwood floors. It was really cool,” Bynum said. “It’s very much a ‘time capsule house.’”
It has the requested funky-colored tile in its two bathrooms — bright blue and a fleshy peach—and wood-paneled walls in the open living room and a sunken dining room with a white terrazzo floor. The kitchen has tennis-ball yellow Formica counters covered in a teal
and fuchsia boomerang design. It has touches from the era throughout, from the bright turquoise door to closet doors and light fixtures.
Bynum’s home is almost completely preserved from when the three-bedroom, two-bath ranch was featured as the “Tex-o-rama” on the Parade of Homes tour in Better Homes and Garden magazine, a point of pride for the new homeowner.
From pink tile and floral wallpaper to wood-paneled walls and built-in martini bars, some midcentury homes on the market in Houston have trademarks seemingly stuck in another decade, or maybe a “Mad Men” set. While these touches are something many new homebuilders or renovators would quickly dismiss or tear out, buyers like Bynum interested in time capsule homes have become a growing phenomenon around the country and in some parts of Houston. It’s a niche market that prefers the preserved in the face of newer and newer construction and a sweeping teardown trend throughout the region. Even highend buyers have proved they are willing to pay a premium for the old, rather than new.
Robert Searcy, a real estate agent who specializes in midcentury sales, said homes range from modest to high-end in the market. He also has a range of buyers, from purists to those who would rather maintain some of the modern conveniences.
“More mainstream buyers will walk into one of these houses, and I’ll try to explain the value and attraction of a pink bathroom or original Thermador appliance, and it’s completely lost on them,” Searcy said. “But the demand is growing and it’s outstripping the supply.”
He said the teardown trend hurts the supply, as do those who renovate a house beyond recognition from its original state. He said gems are torn down or remodeled in Meyerland, Memorial Bend and Oak Forest.
“Just because something is old, doesn’t mean new is an improvement,” he said. “Sometimes you’ll see flippers spend a bunch of money ripping out quality vintage things to make the house more valuable.” Damage from flooding
The teardown trend putting midcentury marvels in peril may be accelerated following Houston’s Memorial Day flooding. It left many owners in pockets like Meyerland deciding whether to sell, move on and leave homes built in the 1950s and 1960s vulnerable. Big builders have already begun replacing many ranch-style homes in neighborhoods around Houston.
Steve Curry, president of Houston Mod, an advocacy group for the preservation of midcentury architecture, said these types of homes often are not considered historic if they are less than 50 year sold. He said while tear downs are common, he has also noticed a resurgence in interest in midcentury homes in recent years.
Curry recently finished restoring his own 1953 house in Braeswood Place, where he and his wife brought the home to as close to its original state as possible. Meanwhile, his neighborhood has bigger and newer houses popping up every day.
“It was a moment in time that we were sure was worth preserving,” said Curry, who is an architect. “It’s authentic, not retro. We decided it was a keeper.”
Curry said the threat facing midcentury homes following the flood is unprecedented. Their location near Brays Bayou, and water damage from the Memorial Daystorm, do not necessarily make the houses teardowns, he said. Many have “great stories and architectural importance,” Curry added. Houston Mod promotes a “Mod of the Month” house in the hopes of drawing attention to the significant homes in the city. The group will amp this up as the flood-damaged homes hit the market.
“This natural event has raised these issues like we have never seen before,” hesaid.
Many of these neighborhoods popped up after World War II, when soldiers returned home and the demand for housing exploded. Curry said the post-war building boom provided opportunities for prominent architects, including Philip Johnson and Ludwig Mies vanderRoheandotherearlymodernists,tothinkaboutnewwaysto design and build.
Pockets of these neighborhoods are now unrecognizable from what they once were. Streets are jumbled with new two-and-three story behemoths where the original homes were torn down. It’s unclear how many midcentury mod- erns have been lost over the years, but Curry said many modernist masterpieces have been lost to the wrecking ball as what he calls “the victims of public misperception about their value and importance.” A tight-knit neighborhood
But it’s not like this everywhere. In Glenbrook Valley, the largest midcentury historic district in the U.S., preservation is a way of life. Just off Broadway near Hobby Airport, it’s a tight-knit neighborhood with a collection of swanky homes, where neighbors meet for regular happy hours and block parties.
It has a wealth of low-slung houses with flat roofs, rectangular designs and floor-to-ceiling glass. In December, a home was sold in the neighborhood for a record-setting$525,000. The previous record was in the mid-$300,000 range. Midcentury enthusiasts, those who frequent popular sites like “SaveThePinkBathroom.com” and “RetroRenovation.com,” suggest that maintaining the original look and feel of homes can pay off as this trend continues.
Darel Daik, founder and CEO of Noble Mortgage, a company that makes short-term loans to investors who buy and renovate homes, said many of the original touches to homes are coveted. Many buyers are renovating as opposed to rebuilding.
Daik said he toured a house in Westbury, in southwest Houston, and shared a picture on his Facebook of the bathroom with “Pepto-Bismol” pink tile. He thought it was clearly time for an update, but many customers responded to his post and admired the look. They said, “Tell your client not to touch it!”
“I think that it is a trend,” Daik said. ‘I just had to have it’
Jamie Oyler, who moved into his Glenbrook Valley mod in 2007, has a high-end version of a time capsule. The house, built in 1957, has an unusual carport that looks like a drive-in movie theater, with a low-pitched roof that slopes towardthefront.The bathrooms are pink, blue and black with original fixtures. His kitchen has original, but updated, Thermador appliances. He said with his sleek mod furniture and the original preserved architecture, it’s like walking into “James Bond’s house.”
Most notable, though, is his “Kit Kat Lounge” on the second-story loft addition. It has bar stools, couches and chairs from Finger Furniture that have remained on the second-story since it was added to the house in 1960. It was a room where people would watch movies with a projector. It still has the curtain andthe screen.
Oyler said when he saw this room, it was a done deal for him. “I just had to have it,” hesaid. Kim and Alan Whittingdon have what some midcentury enthusiasts call a “swankienda,” or a swanky hacienda. They were particular, hoping to find such a look for 2½ years before they bought the house in 2012 for $265,000.
The three-bedroom, two-bath house has a rotunda in the living room, a circular fireplace in the middle and kitchen counters with turquoise and gold flecks.
“We went to estate sales a lot and always picked up mod things,” Kim Whittingdon said. “That’s where we always pictured ourselves living.”
Of course, buying an older house has its pitfalls. Bynum has already fixed termite damage, cleaned grimy grout and replaced his broken sliding door.
He also hopes to fix the dents and scratches to doors, walls and floors throughout the house. Despite all his updates, he strives as much as possible to keep his home original and to buy furniture that fits with the midcentury vibe.
Proof is his collection of antique ashtrays that the non-smoker keeps throughout the house because he says, “Smoking was a big deal to people in the ’50s.” A notable exception: the plasma screen television in the living room.