Texas Real Estate

The Lone Star State has plenty to offer architecturally. From houses to museums to commercial and industrial buildings, Texan real estate is diverse, artistic, and rich in culture. It might be because this extra large state has an extra large population of residents, but more than a fair share of brilliant home and building designs have been achieved throughout the various Texan cities. Your real estate agent will help you in sifting through the many different styles of real estate.

            Historically, the real estate developments in Texas were influenced by Spanish and Mexican cultures. Throughout the colonial days the Spanish settlers established a Missions style of architecture that took hold across this mid-western home front. During this time the materials and time available to building homes was still very primitive. Thus, the Missions style was formed around using the materials most conveniently available to build houses with. This meant that in eastern Texas the homes were mostly built with wood, but in the western real estate wood was not such an easy commodity. Other materials were used in Mission homes in the west, like lime mortar, stone, but most commonly adobe. Adobe is essentially a wet clay baked into hard bricks. Typically a dusty orange color, adobe is the most recognizable feature of Mission architecture. Originally utilized by the natives to the area, the adobe clay was widely used in many of these homes. These real estate designs were very functional and easily produced, but understandably lacked in creative style. To make up for this shortfall, the homes would have frescos painted on the walls and doors for aesthetic value. Over the last four hundred years Texas real estate has been developed in far more sophisticated styles, but the foundation will always remain in the Spanish-inspired Mission homes.

            Today, Texas real estate has taken a different form. Adobe was phased out ages ago, although adobe imitation materials are still used on homes for appearance's sake. Today, Texan buildings have grown significantly, especially in commercial and business areas. Between Dallas and Houston, Texas is home to thirteen of the hundred tallest buildings in the United States. The tallest piece of real estate among the thirteen is the JP Morgan Chase Tower in Houston. It was built in 1981, and though it was the eighth tallest building in the world after it a built, today it has been reduced to forty-eighth.

            Four famous homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright exist in Texas. Two are located in Dallas, one in Amarillo, and one in Bunker Hill. The two Dallas real estate pieces used by Wright were not done at the same time. The John A. Gillin House was created first in 1950. This home was a Wright original in the Usonian style. Wright created this style with effort to separate his form of architecture from all previous American designs that had been influenced by European styles. Usually the Usonian homes were small and designed for full time living, but the Gillin House was among the most luxurious of the style. The home was built to overlook a creek present on the real estate. The rooms exhausted natural light through the use of clerestory windows.

            The second Wright real estate in Dallas is not actually a home. It is a theater and one of the only three Wright theater’s to survive to this day. This commercial theater was designed to be daring and stand out amongst other real estate styles of the day. Wright achieved this, but not with space age fanatics and crazy lines as demonstrated in other real estate during 1955. The Kalita Humphreys Theater was based off of nature. Nature may not seem like a bold concept to base this real estate off of, but with the avoidance of ninety degree angles, and the efficient use of functionality and space, the theater enjoys a relaxed but splendid look. Rather than being overdone, this commercial building is left looking like a work of art. It is especially noteworthy  because it is the last Frank Lloyd Wright architecture completed before he died at the age of ninety-one.

            Moving along, in Bunker Hill is the William L. Thaxton House. This and the Sterling Kinney House in Amarillo are private homes and are therefore inappropriate to visit. What is known about the houses is that the Thaxton House is built in the shape of an L, which is common to the Usonian style. In the crook of the L is a swimming pool accessible to the entire home. Oppositely, the Kinney House is slightly skewed giving it the shape of a T. The Kinney House is also built entirely of earthly red bricks.

            Other Texan homes and architecture not designed by Wright but worth mentioning include the Water Gardens in Fort Worth, the MADI Museum in Dallas, and of course the Alamo. The Water Gardens was designed by Philip Johnson in 1974. It is a large dissension into the ground amidst walls of water. It is dubbed as a “cooling oasis in the concrete jungle.” It is open to the public and used for meditation and relaxation. The MADI Museum is a massive collection of MADI style artwork. The real estate itself is a display of the MADI artwork with decorations of geometric shapes painted in florescent, bright colors. Everything in the building, down to the furnishings, follow the same style as the real estate and reflect this playful artistic style. The Alamo still stands on the same piece of real estate in San Antonio. It is a specific example of a Mission style building and was constructed in 1718. It is famous for the battle that took place there in 1836, involving famous names like Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Although famous and extremely historical, this piece of real estate is open year-round, and for free, for the public to tour.

            Texas is big and so is it’s architecture, as demonstrated by the skyscrapers located in Dallas and Houston. This state isn’t only a big name though. It has the history to back it up with the Mission style housing featuring adobe bricks. This mid-western state offers a lot in the residential, commercial, and industrial areas to anyone who has a curiosity about real estate or architecture.