On The Market

The ultimate bungalow? Lovingly restored Heights house turns heads — an $825,000 time machine

Editor's Note: Houston, the surrounding areas and beyond are loaded with must-have houses for sale in all shapes, sizes and price ranges. In this continuing series, CultureMap snoops through some of the best and gives you the lowdown on what's hot on the market.

A once small, three-bedroom, one-bath bungalow needing some TLC in the Brooke Smith neighborhood in the Greater Heights area now stands as an authentic, accurate and admirable tribute to the original American Arts and Crafts style.

While celebrating its own open house, the local larger-scale "ultimate bungalow" even turned heads and attracted visitors during the recent American Institute of Architects Houston 2014 Home Tour. The house, located at 512 Archer St., is now for sale at $825,000.

"It was the house that we first lived in together. We literally got married on the front porch of this house."

The 2,460-square-foot residence blends period details with modern features. Taken to the studs, careful craftsmanship is evident throughout, from reclaimed hardwoods and shiplap; antique doors, windows, lighting fixtures and shutters salvaged from historic structures; to custom cabinets and bookshelves. The four-bedroom charmer also offers 400 square feet of covered and screened porches, including an outdoor kitchenette, making nature very much a part of the living experience on the 5,000-square-foot lot.

So who is behind this local authentic American Arts and Crafts revival?

Meet Anthony Harnden, president of The Contemporary Craftsmen, a company of six determined to meticulously represent classic Craftsman style in its projects.

Harnden took time to respond to a Q&A email from CultureMap to share more about his latest creation — down to the nails.

CultureMap: Tell us about The Contemporary Craftsmen. What are your inspirations and goals?

Anthony Harnden: We started in 2008 right after the recession. I got my feet wet by moving a house from the Woodland Heights to a piece of property that we had purchased the previous year next to our residence. The Contemporary Craftsmen officially started about a year and a-half ago. I am the sole member of the LLC and have six full-time employees, mostly carpenters/painters.

I started my second period restoration about two years ago. This was a house that (my wife) Kay bought for herself before we met. It was the house that we first lived in together. We literally got married on the front porch of this house. The house was what I call a working-class Victorian — T-shaped with three rooms total plus a bathroom that was added at some point.

I really wanted to recreate the experience I had in some of the homes we visited in New Orleans. I wanted the screened-in porches, the court yards, the French doors, sun rooms and transoms. I wanted there to be a sense of having layers of history. I finished the house, and we had a pretty good amount of interest.

I guess the goal of The Contemporary Craftsmen is to make a connection. My inspirations come from personal experiences. One of the three couples that have showed serious interest in the house at 512 Archer, my second house in this style, spoke with me. She told me that she was from Pasadena, Calif. She lived one-half a mile from The Gamble House. She said that the house that we built reminded her of the house that she grew up in. She was even tutored in a Greene and Greene house.

It's difficult to describe what a gift she gave me by telling me these stories. Not many people have the chance to make that kind of connection with people. I think a lot of builders try to take buyers to the next level. We try to take people somewhere they have already been.

CM: What were the major steps you took in order to begin the process to create a true American Arts & Crafts house?

AH: One of the challenges with this design were the 3-foot eaves. Greene and Greene houses typically have closer to 5-foot eaves. With 3-foot eaves plus a 12-foot-wide driveway, the location of the house on the lot becomes an important factor. So we had to move the house over about five feet. Since we were adding up, we decided to take that opportunity to build a proper foundation for the house, so we had the house lifted about six feet so we could get under there and rebuild the foundation.

CM: Tell us about your favorite repurposed features incorporated into the house and where you found them?

AH: We bought a building, a two-story brick building, in the neighborhood that was built in 1929 located at 1000 Enid, our current project. This property was originally a grocery store and had rental units upstairs. We scored four clawfoot tubs and several sinks from this building. We used two of the clawfoot tubs and one of the sinks at 512 Archer. One of the other sinks came from Adkins Architectural Antiques. Many of the sconces came from August Antiques on Heights Boulevard. We also used reclaimed oak floors.

"I think a lot of builders try to take buyers to the next level. We try to take people somewhere they have already been."

One of the things that gets noticed the most are the industrial exposed track doors, but its the subtle things like the mortise sets and porcelain door handles that are my favorites because people don’t notice those things. They just experience them when they pull the door closed. It's not visual; it's sensory and subconscious.

CM: American Arts & Crafts houses typically have furniture built specifically for certain areas of the homes. Is any of the furniture especially made for the house?

AH: We built the dining table out of ash. We were kind of excited about it actually. We bought the wood from Clark’s Lumber. The ash had been left in the kiln for an extended time. causing the wood to turn a beautiful deep coffee color all the way through and giving it a wonderful smell, almost like a cigar. After it was finished, we decided to rub it down with mineral oil instead of putting a finish on it so you can smell that ash when you walk in the house.

CM: Tell us about the other house you built in this fashion?

AH: We have done two “California Craftsmen” on this street. The other one is located at 506 Archer. We were kind of proud of that house because it was actually a new construction. If we didn’t tell you, though, you wouldn't know it. We definitely used reclaimed material in that house, but it had an element that was greater than the sum of its parts. We felt like we breathed soul into it. It really felt like it had been there 100 years.

CM Anything else you would like to add? I heard a lot of people on the AIA Contemporary Home Tour saw the house and liked it!

AH: I wish I could take credit for planning this, but it was purely a coincidence that our open house was on the day of the AIA tour. Our friends and neighbors have a house that was on the tour. They live four doors down. They sent quite a few people down to see our house.

It turns out that a lot of the people on the AIA tour have an appreciation for Early American Arts and Crafts as well as contemporary. Happy accident, and generous neighbors.

Take a visual tour of 512 Archer St. by clicking through the slideshow above.

Square footage: 2,460

Asking price: $825,000

Listing agent: Kay Harnden, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Across the entry hall is the living room centered around a fireplace with period-conscious design.

On the Market 512 Archer St. November 2014 Living Area

Photo by © William Tadlock

Across the entry hall is the living room centered around a fireplace with period-conscious design.

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they're durable, too

3D-printed Houston housing project cements a more affordable future

Houston is putting itself front-and-center to help make sustainable, affordable housing a reality for 80 lucky homeowners in a scalable housing community that will hopefully catch on nationwide. Recently, developer Cole Klein Builders partnered with HiveASMBLD to pioneer what’s touted as the world’s first large-scale, one-of-a-kind, affordable housing development using 3-D printing technology, merging robotics, design, and sustainability.

Located across from Sterling Aviation High School, near Hobby Airport, Zuri Gardens will offer 80 two-bedroom, two-bathroom homes of approximately 1,360 square feet situated in a park-like setting, including walking trails and a community green space.

Homes in Zuri Gardens will hit the market in early summer of 2026. Final pricing has yet to be determined, but Cole Klein Builders expects it to be in the mid-to-high 200s.

Interestingly, none of the homes will offer garages or driveways, which the developer tells CultureMap will provide a savings of roughly $25,000 - $40,000 per home.

Instead of parking for individual units, 140 parking spaces will be provided. Ideally, this small-town-inspired design will provide opportunities for neighbors to meet, connect, and build community.

Each two-story home is comprised of a ground floor printed by HiveASMBLD, using a proprietary low-carbon cement alternative by Eco Materials Technologies that promises to enhance strength and reduce CO2 emissions. The hybrid homes will have a second floor built using engineered wood building products by LP Building Solutions. Overall, the homes are designed to be flood, fire, and possibly even tornado-proof.

The Zuri in Zuri Gardens is the Swahili word for “beautiful,” a choice that is fitting considering that the parks department will be introducing a five acre park to the project — with 3-D printed pavilions and benches — plus, a three acre farm is located right across the street. The Garver Heights area, where Zuri Gardens is located, is in what’s classified as a food desert, which means that access to fresh food is limited. Residents will have access to the farm’s fresh produce, plus opportunities to participate in gardening and nutrition workshops—that’s a win for everyone.

With the novelty of Zuri Gardens, it’s no surprise that the neighborhood already has an 800 person waitlist, but with stringent buyer requirements, it’s unclear how many of those 800 will qualify. Developer Cole Klein Builders created Zuri Gardens in partnership with the Houston Housing Community Development Department, who provided infrastructure reimbursements for the roads, sewer lines, and water lines. In return, CKB agreed to push the purchase prices for the homes as low as possible.

Zuri Gardens also received $1.8 million dollars from the Uptown Tourism Bond, 34 percent of which must be used with minority owned small businesses. Qualified buyers must fit a certain area of median income according to HUD guidelines, and must be owner occupied at all times — so no property investors or short term vacation rentals will be allowed.

“They’re trying to bridge that gap to make sure there is a community for the homebuyers who need it — educators, law enforcement, civil workers, etc.,” Cole Klein Builders’ co-principal Vanessa Cole tells CultureMap. “You have to go through a certification process with the housing department to make sure that your income is in alignment for this community. It has been great, and everyone has been really receptive.”

Cole has also brought insurance underwriters to visit the site and to help drive premiums below regular rates for Houston homeowners since homes in Zuri Gardens are not built to traditional standards — claim risks for one of the 3-D homes are extremely low. Tim Lankau, principal at HiveASMBLD, notes that the 3-D hybrid design allows for a more traditional appearance, while having the benefits of a concrete structure: “That’s where the floodwaters would go, that’s where you can hide when there’s a tornado, and that’s where termites would eat. So you get the advantages of it while having a traditionally-framed second floor.”

It’s important to note that Zuri Gardens is not located in a flood prone area, nor did it flood during Hurricane Harvey — being flood proof is merely a perk of a cement house. The concrete that Eco Material Technologies developed is impervious. The walls are printed into hollow forms, which house rebar, plumbing, and accessible conduits for things like electrical lines and smart house features. Those walls are then filled with a foamcrete product that expands to form a “monolithic concrete wall.”

David McNitt, of Eco Materials Technologies, explains that his proprietary concrete is made of PCV, and contains zero Portland cement. Instead, McNitt’s cement is made from coal ash and is 99 percent green (there are a few chemicals added to the ash). Regardless, it’s made from 100 percent waste products.

“This is a product that has really been landfilled before,” says McNitt. “It’s coal ash, and it’ll set within 8-10 minutes. It’s all monolithic, and one continuous pour — it’s literally all one piece.”

Eco Materials Technologies’ concrete product is impressively durable. A traditional cinderblock wall will crush at around 800 psi, while this material crushes at about 8,000 psi.

“It’s ten times stronger than a cinderblock wall that can withstand hurricanes,” claims McNitt. “I don’t think you’d even notice a hurricane. It’ll be really quiet inside, too — so you won’t get interrupted during your hurricane party. It’s way over-engineered, it really is.”

The second story is built using weatherproof and eco-friendly products by LP Building Solutions. Their treated, engineered wood products come with a 50 year warranty, and their radiant barrier roof decking product blocks 97% of UV rays, and keeps attic temperatures 30° cooler than traditional building materials. These materials, combined with the concrete first floor, will keep heating and cooling costs low — something the folks at HiveASMBLD refer to as “thermal mass performance.”

Courtesy of Cole Klein Builders

Homes in Zuri Gardens are a hybrid of 3D concrete and traditional wood construction.