Front Elevation: Art House
Owning an architect-designed home is akin to living in a work of art.
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Architecturally significant homes in Texas by modernists such as Bud Oglesby, Mies van der Rohe pupil Howard Meyer, Edward Durrell Stone (of the Kennedy Center and U.S. Embassy in New Delhi renown) and Frank Lloyd Wright protégé Charles Barglebaugh, are selling for up to 40 percent more than non-designer homes of the same size in their respective neighborhoods. According to Newby, the most expensive estate in the Dallas area, designed by New York and Palm Beach architect Maurice Fatio and worth more than $50 million, received multiple offers and sold for more than 25 percent over its appraised value in 1999. “These houses live bigger,” he says. “Name and pedigree add value.”; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
A Malibu, Calif., residence with views of the Pacific by
Buff, Smith &
Hensman. (Click image to enlarge)
In Palm Beach, Fla., Addison Miz-ner’s Mediterranean-style manses—in addition to the designs of Fatio, Marion Sims Wyeth and John Volk—continue to sell well. “Anything of the Mizner era is highly sought after and commands a high price,” says broker Bill Kirk. On the Gulf Coast in Sarasota, the rare, innovative designs of the Sarasota School of Architecture are “hotter than a firecracker, especially the Rudolphs,” says broker Martie Lieberman, a self-taught modern architecture expert (and owner of a 1955 Paul Rudolph home) who matches preservation-conscious buyers with endangered properties.
The architect-designed home craze has even penetrated lower-profile markets. Ninety percent of all sales conducted by Arizona firm Jarson & Jarson are architecturally significant—from the works of Al Beadle to Will Bruder and Eddie Jones, according to owner Scott Jarson. In Portland, Ore., broker Jolynne Ash says demand for turn-of-the-century architecture by Ellis Lawrence, John Virginius Ennis and Roscoe Hemenway is growing. A mint condition 1936 Lawrence home (at 2,600 square feet, small by Portland standards) garnered $1.15 million. “It sold for more than most estate homes built at that time,” Ash says. “We may be behind other cities in prices, but the historic district homes are selling for more.” Ash says Oregon homeowners who buy homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places receive a tax incentive: Their property taxes can be frozen for 15 years. Many states, including California, Arizona and Florida, have followed suit with their own incentives.
Jan Horn, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate,
310.777.6200, www.janhorn.com, www.coldwellbanker.com
Martie Lieberman, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate,
941.724.1118, www.modernsarasota.com, www.floridamoves.com
Richard Stanley, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
323.906.2417, www.richardstanleyrealtor.com, www.coldwellbanker.com
Douglas Newby, Douglas Newby & Associates
214.522.1000, www.significanthomes.com
Jolynne Ash, DreamStreet Real Estate
888.475.4040, www.jolynne.com
Scott Jarson, Jarson & Jarson,
480.425.9300, www.azarchitecture.com
Marmol Radziner & Associates,
310.826.6222
Mike Deasy, Mossler Deasy & Doe, 310.275.2222,
www.architectureforsale.com
Brian Linder, Mossler Deasy & Doe, 800.684.8862,
www.thevalueofarchitecture.com
Bill Kirk, Sotheby’s International Realty, 561.659.3555,
www.palmbeach.sothebysrealty.com
Susan Blabey, William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty
888.252.7488, www.williampittsir.com
