Wayne Grubb and "The Brown Trail House"

Does the name Wayne Grubb ring a bell? I mentioned him in a previous post, the one about the fantastic pink enamel kitchen appliances. As cool as the appliances are, the real story turned out to be Wayne -- a local genius who in 1957 designed and built the home the appliances came from, this googie-licious house on Brown Trail in Hurst. The bad news: It is NOT on the market. The good news: The fourth generation of this WWII veteran's family lives there, and I'm told they've adhered to MCM style.

Wayne, who was also a philosopher and inventor, worked as a general contractor on large custom homes in North Texas until his death, in 1997. His daughter, a graphic artist named Revis Grubb Plemmons, has been extremely generous with text and photos so that I can share information about her father and the fantastic house she grew up in. "Inspired by the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, especially Fallingwater, my dad used various woods and crabstone to give the house an organic ambience," she says. I'd never heard of crabstone before, but it apparently has gorgeous coloration and texture.

The house also wreaked havoc with visitors' internal compasses: There are no square rooms in the 2,600-square-foot house except for the two bathrooms. "Dad told me that he would decide the square footage for a room, start with conventional right-angled shapes, then skew the shape," Revis says, recalling that it wasn't uncommon for people to forget which way the street was after stepping 15 or 20 feet into the house. The house is as dazzling and disorienting, says one of Wayne's bios, as a philosophy discussion with the man himself.

Wayne, a native of Bangs, Texas, had tinkered with objects ever since he was able to walk. His earnings from "Solar Windows," which he invented and patented, enabled him to build the house. The design featured screens and movable panes, which could be opened to various degrees to control airflow. They can still be seen in homes and businesses throughout Dallas-Fort Worth. Revis says she remembers her dad bringing home the prototype to the family's tiny duplex apartment in Fort Worth when she was about 4. (Later, Wayne invented a machine that automated the task of prepping doors for hanging. It's been estimated that at one time, 85% of all doors produced worldwide were cut on his machinery.)

People started talking about "the Brown Trail House." It wasn't unusual for strangers to pull into the driveway and get out of their car to look around, Revis says. Once, her mother opened the front door and sort of jokingly offered the visitors a tour, which they immediately took her up on! Photos that Revis sent me include these images of the interior, taken in 1959. Oh yum. Wanna take a tour, too? Let's go, kids! (This is a baby Sputnik light fixture in the living room.)

At left is the living room. When you look at touches like this divider, you can really see what a labor of love the home was.


Just off the living room is the dining room. Looks like grass-cloth wallpaper, which looks so smart and is so hot again. (On a TV redesign show a couple of years ago, I watched as designer Kenneth Brown suggested grass-cloth wallpaper to a well-heeled couple, who recoiled in horror -- bet they'd like a do-over on that one ...)



The kitchen is so stream-lined. Really well-done. Wayne designed special cabinets for maximum efficiency. The upper cabinets operate on a weights and pulley system. The lower area conceals drawers and cabinets. Many of the drawers and cabinets have spring-open catches.

















And, of course, there are those fantastic pink enamel appliances.









At the back of the house is the den, which sported a long, low, lovely custom sofa. The Scandinavian look of the sofa along with the natural elements of the plants and all the stone ... good lord, what's not to love??
Behind the curtains are doors leading to the patio. The tray ceiling is really something special.
(Cool bottles -- and great chair!)










Isn't this the kind of image we conjure when we think about a tall stacked stone fireplace in a really fabulous, well-designed midcentury ranch house?
Lucky children!

7270 Baxtershire Drive, Dallas 75230 $799K

When you talk about mid-century modern neighborhoods in Dallas, the houses on the Disney streets usually come up first, and they certainly are among the googiest. However, I have a special place in my heart for the majestic, rambling ranches in the neighborhoods between Forest and Royal, between Preston and 75. Many of these houses were custom-built, high-quality homes in their time. Many of them have enjoyed a fantastic second life in the hands of owners who respect their heritage.

A great example: 7270 Baxtershire. This house was designed by Fred Tycher in 1961 for himself and his family. It's got great curb appeal and the inside features soaring vaulted ceilings with full length architectural beams. The current owners completed a major renovation and restoration in 2007. The results are stunning.

7341 Malabar Lane Dallas, 75230 $520K

Here's a very cool looking MCM built in 1958 that appears mostly undisturbed in a neat little mid-century neighborhood off Forest Lane and Central. Great lot and trees, lots of windows, washed wood paneling and brick floors. Is that a St. Charles kitchen? The deets and the pix are here.

Mersman Surfboard Coffee Table For Sale

So much furniture, so little square footage. Anyone who is looking for an awesome MCM coffee table, check out our post on Craigslist for this sweet, sweet Mersman surfboard coffee table, just restored by the magic hands of Hank Tosh.

6840 Brants Lane, Fort Worth 76116 - $279K

Ridglea Hills is one of best mid-century neighborhoods in Fort Worth and this nicely remodeled gem is, IMO, something of a steal. I love this house. It's close to Luther Lake and has an Eichler vibe that you don't see all that often in Cowtown. I think curb appeal is a little bit of an issue, but if I were in market for a mid-century house on the left side of the Metromess, this would be at the top of my list. Click here for more details and lots of photo goodness.

The Graf Residence in Dallas

I picked up a fascinating book at an estate sale in Fort Worth recently -- The Super-Americans by John Bainbridge. Bainbridge was a writer for The New Yorker who moved to Texas for nine months in the early 1960s and produced a sociological portrait of Texas at mid-century that outraged many Texans at the time but still makes for interesting reading.

As I thumbed through the book in search of good Fort Worth stories, I found an interesting passage about Mrs. Josephine Herbert Graf, the heiress to a Fort Worth oil fortune that built the house pictured above in the Preston Hollow section of Dallas. The house, which was designed by Edward D. Stone, who also designed Fort Worth's current city hall building and the U.S. Embassy in New Dehli, has been meticulously renovated by current owners John and Jennifer Eagle and Dallas architect Russell Buchanan and earned an award in 2008 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Mrs. Graf's back story is interesting reading. She married the son of a New York millionaire, John W. Herbert III, who came to Texas to get into the oil industry in the 1920s and succeeded quite nicely. The couple eventually settled in Fort Worth after a stint traveling in Europe, but with the outbreak of World War II, John Herbert enlisted in the Army Air Force at the age of 42. With her husband away, Josephine set about learning how to run the business in his absence. Unfortunately, she found out on Christmas Eve 1942 that her husband was lost on a combat mission over New Guinea. With that, Mrs. Herbert became principal owner of the Herbert Oil Company.

After the war, Josephine married again, a European by the name of Bruno Graf, and eventually moved from Fort Worth to Switzerland for several years before moving back to Texas and settling in Dallas and beginning construction on this house as a way to avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of her $450,000 Fort Worth residence.

Stone's design was modern yet ornate and five to six dozen artisans working on the job steadily because everything is custom-made, including 54-inch squares of white marble veined with gold, seventy walnut doors and custom furnishings from T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings among other touches. The coolest feature: a white marble island above a swimming pool where the dining area is located. Said Mrs. Graf in Bainbridge's book: "When you go into the pool, you push a button and the water level goes down six inches -- that's so it doesn't splash." Yeah, just like at my house.

Over the top? Yes. Accessible modern design? Not hardly. Cool as all get-out. You bet. I'm just glad that as we seem MCM landmarks going the way of the wrecking ball in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, some people have the commitment and the money to preserve some of the landmarks. I hope more people follow their lead.

We're Still Here!

Rumors of our demise are premature. We have been off the radar a while, but we have lots of stuff we still want to share. Please be patient! More Dallas - Fort Worth Mid-Century goodness is on the way!