On a road trip to sister Marilyn's house in Tomball, Texas over Thanksgiving, we stopped by the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Houston. It was built in 1954 by William Thaxton, an insurance executive, for $125,000. FLW received a $25,000 fee. It is in an exclusive area of Houston called Bunker Hill Village on a picturesque 1.2 acre lot. Most of the original houses have been torn down and McMansions now reside on every street. In 1991, within days of the scheduled tear down, it sold to a doctor who saved the house. The original house, which was a parallelogram of 1800 square feet, was saved, the courtyard and the pool were all left original except for a doorway on each end of the house which was cut to a new 10,000 square foot addition. The addition wrapped around the courtyard from each end of the house. 
The design on the gate was the best indication it was a Frank Lloyd Wright house.
Speeding along the Oklahoma Turnpike, speed limit of 75 (woohoo!!), we saw the famous Vinita McDonald's Golden Arches on I-44. Built originally as a Howard Johnsons, it was converted into a McDonald's. The golden arches stretch across the entire road. It claimed to be the largest McDonald's until the Russians built one bigger which has been rumored to have contributed towards the end of the Cold War. Charles Phoenix take note!
1 comment:
Bob- I remember that Howard Johnsons Restaurant, it was a landmark I looked for everytime we drove to Grandmas in Springfield, MO from Tulsa, OK. We only stopped there once,I recall. It was only about a 4 hr drive and my Dad would stop for nothing, including bathroom breaks, which apparently was some sort of character flaw if we had to "go". Nevertheless, it's a great memory, so thanks for sharing...The FLLW house is very interesting, you usually don't hear of additions being larger than the original house, but thank the heavens it didn't get torn down.
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