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York House

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1952, Cocke, Bowman and York. 1802 Laurel Dr.

John G. York's design philosophy was best expressed in his family residence. Inspired by the Charles Eames Case Study House of 1949, the one-story, flat-roofed dwelling is set in a raised expanse of lawn bordered by a low retaining wall in native brick to offset the building's machine-made materials. Modular in design, with its steel-bar joist and pipe column construction, the exterior wall panels of glass, or opaque insulating material, were originally neatly “zipped” into the envelope with automobile-type glazing gaskets. The linear, open-plan design connected along one side to a full-length, covered screened area supported by exposed bar joists and resulted in, according to York, “the feeling of the absence of construction.” Sadly, today, unsympathetic alterations, including a gabled roof and enclosed carport, make it difficult to perceive the singular modernist traits of the York House.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "York House", [Harlingen, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-MR29.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 302-302.

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