7510 Cayton St. – Houston TX (architects: Rice Institute architecture students)

 

From an advertisement for the 1956 Houston Parade of Homes brochure (thanks to GlenbrookValley.com):

 

Already nationally recognized, the ‘Texas Americana’ was designed by Mel O’Brien, senior student at Rice Institute and winner of the best-designed 1956 home in the senior architectural class.

Many new ideas are incorporated in ‘Texan Americana’ to give it a distinctiveness of its own. All the living area, for example, is under a huge shed roof – an effect achieved through the use of all-laminated beams. This not only affords the home owner the beauty of exposed beams on the inside but provides a roof with the strength of a conventional roof.

Then there’s the kitchen, in a U-shape, which permits the housewife to perform all her chores, just by turning around, and cuts down on the number of steps she would have to take daily.