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Little House on the Prairie
Architect Stephen B. Chambers brings traditional sensibilities to East Texas.
Text By J. Robert Ostergaard | Photos By Eric Roth
Tucked back among mature pines and oaks and fronting a pasture, this new farmhouse is a tribute to its owners' East Texas heritage. The house was based on historical cabins and reginal homes from the mid to late 1800s. The flagstone pathway encircling the house proveds a border for Texas perennials.
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"Where are you from?" These days—with so many of us traveling far from our roots in search of a better job or a better climate or a different way of life—it's become an increasingly common question. And why not? Asking where someone hails from doesn't just pinpoint a geographic spot, it may also reveal something about a person's history and heritage. Where we come from is a part of who we are.
Ask this question of a certain married couple in East Texas—Susan and Josiah—and they might respond with a quizzical look or a gentle smile. After all, they're liable to be standing on the very land that's been in Susan's family for over 130 years. Ask about the farmhouse on that land, though, and you'll be surprised to learn it's only about three years old.
The house was designed by Stephen B. Chambers, A.I.A., a Dallas-based architect with more than 30 years experience in residential design and historic renovation. It's a weekend retreat for the couple, but it's something more than that. Susan and Josiah consider this their true home. It's a tribute to their ancestry, to East Texas, and to their life together.
"The land has been in my family since 1871," Susan says. "It was purchased by my great-great-grandfather. So, when we went to Steve to design us a house, we explained to him how important the land was to us and that this was a house we'd own forever because we do not plan to sell the land."
"I remember what we said to Steve," Josiah continues. "We said, "'Steve, we would like you to design us a farmhouse that will look as if it could have been built by Susan's ancestors when they acquired the property in 1871.'"
The kitchen is a mix of fine finished cabinetry—like flush-frame cabinets—balanced against rustic touches, such as the soapstone counters and open shelving. |
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To accomplish this task, Chambers and his clients chose to site the house back in a forest of mature pine and oak trees facing the open meadowland pasture where cattle graze. "That was a delicate operation." Chambers says. "You had to make the house look as established as possible, like the trees had actually grown up around the house." The site slopes toward the meadow, so Chambers started the house close to the grade in the back and allowed the house to rise up on a pier-and-beam foundation toward the front. "Instead of pushing the house down in the ground, so to speak, we made it so it seems to rise toward the meadow. This gives it nicer view out to the field."
In designing the house, Chambers and his clients drew from the distinctive architectural traditions of East Texas. "They're very interested in history." Chambers says. "And in particular, Texas history. So we spent a good bit of time looking at and doing research on historical Texas homes from the 1800s: small, almost cabin like houses."
As he explains, early Texas houses were often simple box-like structures with a gabled roof that were then added on to over the generations. Looking at the front of this house, the dormer windows on the second floor cut deeply into the roofline, as though the upstairs rooms were carved out of former attic space. From the side of the house, at the kitchen entrance, the saltbox profile gives the illusion of a later addition. "They built as much house as they could to start with," Chambers says of the early settlers. "Then they moved up into the attic and then added a shed on back for more space. So that's really where the form and shape of this house come from."
Among the most prominent exterior features, the big front porch is typical for Southern houses throughout the 1800s. Big porches were important in old homes," Chambers says, "because they let you sit comfortably out of the sun and take in the breeze. Our weather down here is hot. Unlike up North where the big concern is to keep warm, down here it's to keep cool."
As one might expect, Chambers and his clients chose building materials appropriate for their East Texas location, like galvanized steel roofing and a stone exterior. "It's called Arkansas Café Chop," Susan explains. "It's a sandstone. Most newly built stone houses tend to be Texas limestone. But this is East Texas, and it's very humid. We were concerned it would become blackened over time. This stone is aging very gracefully, because it has all the brown colors and variations in it."
The 1920s were the inspirations for the master bath. Blue wainscoting and an antique-inspired hexagonal tile floor unify and enliven the space. The bathtub is a reproduction made from an origninal mold, and the motif topping the medicine cabinets was copied from photos of antique cupboards.
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The choice of stones and their placement became a labor of love for Susan and their mason, Derrick Johnson. "The crowning glory of the house is the stonework," she says. To give the exterior and chimney a more rustic appearance, the mason split many of these dimension stones, weaving the smaller pieces throughout the courses. Susan and Josiah also went out into their pasture and gathered some of the native iron-ore stone to add to the mix. "There's a fair amount just below the surface," Josiah says. "And occasionally, walking the property, you'll come across them. I asked the mason to incorporate them because I thought it was consistent with the theme of a house that looked like it might have been built in 1871."
Smaller details, like the lighting, were also chosen with East Texas in mind. As Susan points out, much of the reproduction lighting on the market has a New England aesthetic. So, to light the front porch, she selected oversized barn lights that transcend any regional connotations. "These seemed to look Texas enough for us," she says. The kitchen chandelier is an adaptation of a one-of-a-kind folk art fixture from Old Deerfield, Massachusetts, she points out, so it's also not a typical New England fixture.
Susan and Josiah had one other requirement for their house: that it be small and manageable enough for a couple, but also flexible enough to comfortably accommodate visiting family and friends. "We asked Steve to design it as small as he could to accomplish what we want," Josiah explains. At 1,950 square feet—and with the master bedroom and bath on the first floor—it's just right for two people. But the house works well for hosting overnight guests in the two upstairs bedroom suites and for entertaining, too. In fact, they specifically requested the front porch be large enough for two large dining tables—enough space to seat 16. "When the weather is good, which is most of the year, we sit out on one of the porches," Susan says. "We consider those to be major rooms of the house."
With the new farmhouse complete, Susan, Josiah, and Stephen Chambers have turned their attention to another meaningful project here: the reconstruction of a double-pen dogtrot log cabin, which will serve as a guesthouse. Like their new house, this structure has special significance for the owners, as it's the original log cabin that Josiah's great-great-grandfather built when he moved to Texas in 1856. The logs have been transported to their property, the plans have been drawn up, and work is set to start soon. For Susan and Josiah, it's another way to deepen their roots with their land, a continuation of their families' histories, and part of a heritage that is sure to be treasured by their own descendents.
Robert Ostergaard is a freelance writer living in New York
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