Prominent Austin architect, Howard R. Barr FAIA, designed this mid-century modern gem in the heart of Austin’s Highland Park neighborhood in the late 1940’s. It was a typical ranch style mid-century, with a central low hallway and bedrooms off either side. The living room was set at an angle at the back of the house, which opened to a view of Lake Austin and greater Hill Country. When repeat clients bought it from Barr’s son in 2016, they hired the firm to design a complete renovation, new addition, and Interiors. 

The firm took care to respect Barr’s original design and street presence by maintaining the brick, wood siding, carport, and punched opening proportions at the front façade. Besides for the front façade the house was fully gutted and reconfigured.

The design intent was to avoid expected moves that give up the view and spaces, and allow them to unfold as guest move through the home. The addition maintains 10-foot ceilings, unusual and innovative in 1950, along with the thin roof profile, while incorporating new HVAC and a mechanical roof enclosure. A large heritage oak near the back of the original house limited construction around its root zone and required a new concrete cantilevered foundation. The addition wraps around the large oak and new floor to ceiling steel windows frame the expansive backyard view to Austin's Iconic Pennybacker Bridge.

The addition grew what was originally a 2,176 square foot three-bedroom, two-bathroom house to 3,696 square feet. The new plan includes a kitchen, living room, family room, generous master bedroom, bathroom and closet addition, and expands the secondary bedrooms to create ensuite guest restrooms. Meticulous trim work includes floor to ceiling white oak shiplap wrapping main interior spaces. The Interiors are unassuming, comfortable, and natural, melding together the midcentury home with the clients’ transitional style.