Get ready for some gorgeous aqua St. Charles kitchen cabinets and pretty pink bathrooms because today’s Time Capsule Tour — a 1954 brick ranch listed for sale by Realtor Ed Murchinson in Sulphur Springs, Texas — has original details that will wow. This architect-designed house is absolutely dreamy: We adore all the exposed brick, the cork floors laid in a herringbone pattern, the beamed ceilings, the brick fence outside — and two pink bathrooms, of course! Thanks to a tip from reader Doris and photos courtesy Shoot2Sell Photography, we can all marvel at the mid century details found in this beautiful brick ranch.
- Year built: 1954
- Price: $125,000
- Square footage: 2,823
- Bedrooms: 3
- Bathrooms: 2
Here is a custom-built Mid-century Modern gem of a home designed by Fort Worth architects Easterwood and Easterwood who also designed the First Baptist Church in downtown Sulphur Springs. A brick paver sidewalk leads to the welcoming front porch of this well-maintained one owner home.
Step into the entry with original Italian marble floors and be greeted by a bright and spacious living room that flows into an even larger family room featuring original cork floors, cozy fireplace, wood-beamed ceiling, exposed brick walls and an expansive walls of windows.
The original kitchen in a beautiful shade of turquoise retains the now sought-after St. Charles metal cabinets. Back in the day, these cabinets were generally found only in higher-end homes and were ahead of their time with features like pull out shelves and bins and velvet lined silverware drawers.
The separate cooking workstation features stainless steel counters…there is even a matching built-in desk! There is a large brick terrace just off the kitchen and family room that provides a great place to entertain or relax and look out over the generous backyard, which is surrounded by a beautiful brick wall.
The master bedroom suite features three walk-in closets and the master bath has a beautiful marble top dressing table. The other two bedrooms are large and all of the generous closets feature lighting that automatically comes on and goes off when the doors are opened and closed.
The large guest bath features the original tiles and cabinetry.. .all in perfect condition. The house also has an over sized two car carport, security system, sprinkler system and a separate concrete block storage building. The timeless design elements of this home have been lovingly retained and maintained…and recently painted inside and out, new carpet, recent high quality roof, AC compressor and more. A few finishing touches…and this is a magazine quality show house!
What a lovely house full of carefully thought-out details. For example, Pam wants prospective bathroom remodelers notice the use of 4″x4″ field tiles installed on the diagonal to create a border around the tub. This is “cheap and cheerful” way to add appeal — so clever.
Mega thanks to Realtor Ed Murchison for allowing us to feature this property and to Shoot2Sell Photography for giving us permission to feature the photos of this lovely mid century property.
Tips to view slide show: Click on first image… it will enlarge and you can also read any captions… move forward or back via arrows below the photo… you can start or stop at any image:
TerriLynn says
Ya’ll really should check out his other listings! Amazing houses!
TerriLynn says
Ugh! If I hadnt just bought a house a year ago, this would be it!
When I am ready, cause this is just a starter, I am calling ED!
Sam R says
That herringbone-pattern cork floor is a great inspiriation – I have the 12″x24″ cork tiles for installation in my family room and kitchen/dining area, right now I’m just waiting for the adhesive to get here, and for the hardwood refinishing in the rest of the house to be done so I can move stuff back out of the family room. I had planned to go with a “brick” style pattern, but this is much more creative and not much more work!
pam kueber says
I LOVE herringbone pattern!
Sam R says
Nothing I could do could be as creative as the original family room floor – apple green with a bright red six-pointed star mosaic made out of VCT.
I did have a rather unusual experience two weekends ago – I was working on a fence gate in front of the garage, and an older gentleman drove up – it was the son of the builder of the house! I gave him a walk-through to show what we were doing to bring the place back, and he told me quite a bit of interesting information about the house and neighborhood.
Sam R says
As an update, last night I finished laying the cork tile in the family room and dining area/kitchen in the herringbone pattern as seen in this house. It still needs to be sealed with a couple of coats of water-based polyurethane (the tiles are pre-coated, but the extra layers will seal the gaps and provide an even finish). It looks great!
Marcie Baker says
Sam, thanks for loving the house so much, and thanks for keeping us posted! If you’ve got the time and inclination, I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d love to see pics. Enjoy your awesome home!! 🙂
Sam R says
Not this house, though I will be posting a pic or two of my new place in the Uploader. I hope the new owners of this lovely place are enjoying it!
pam kueber says
I’m about to turn the Uploader off. Better do it fast!
Sam R says
Crud! I’ve been working and didn’t see the notice until it was already closed. Here is a link to my photobucket album for completed house projects (there are a lot not yet in there): http://s928.photobucket.com/user/SamCogley/library/House-FinishedWork
pam kueber says
Thanks, Sam R, I can’t wait to take a look!
pam kueber says
niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice … I love how the herringboned cork floors turned out! May I show these on the blog?
Sam R says
Sure! I’m glad to be finally getting the place habitable, after the mess we faced to start.
Sam R says
If you’d like some better photos, send me an email and I’ll try to drop by the house during daylight hours sometime this week.
Ed Murchison says
I am the listing agent for this fantastic Mid-century Modern home. I specialize in Mid-century Modern homes and truly understand and appreciate these homes. It makes me feel good to read the positive comments stating that the listing agent seems to understand the property and did a great job of promoting the architectural features of the house…because I do!!! Check out my website for other cool Mid-century Modern homes in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
pam kueber says
Thank you, Ed, for giving us permission to share photos of this beautiful house! We sure hope you find an appreciative buyer!!! Many thanks for showing the mid-mod-mad LOVE!
Nicki says
I want one like this in Florida or near a beach…stat! LOVE!
Panzyzz says
My house, circa 1969, has a 1 car garage with a newly rebuilt carport and I love it. We used to use it as a patio when I was a kid. In the interim years someone else put a huge deck on the house (not well built) which I hate, but it is nice because it is in the back away from the noise of the street. Now we use that more. Although the carport doesn’t keep out all the snow, it does a pretty good job, even when the wind is blowing like tonight.
Anastasia says
Texas is a big place. We recently left Austin, Texas after living there joyfully for about five years. As much as we liked it, I can assure you there is no real estate in the $125,000 price range which looks like that! Mid-Century or not.
Cy says
It’s positively dreamy. Would make a great retirement spot. Especially on a sub freezing day like today in Chicago.
ChrisH says
Wiki’s 2 cents on carports. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carport
My 2 cents: I live in the north in a neighborhood built in the 1920s. Garages, if they existed at all, were very small – as in just barely longer and wider than a car. There are still a few of these old timey garages around.
In the 1950s cars got large. The solution was either to build larger garages, which many did, or to go with a car port.
Many apartment buildings in my city have carports for the tenants. They seem to work well enough. They keep the snow off.
One advantage of the carport is that you can’t fill it with junk, so you always have room for the car. Those of us with garages full of junk would really like a car port for our cars.
Sam R says
I’ve seen plenty of carports that were full of junk.
Sandy says
This is a beauty !. Here in the lower mainland area of BC, one would be looking at around 600 thousand to a million if not more for a home like this.
Douglas Camin @ House on Rynkus Hill says
Nice find!
Texas by virtue of its size has a lot of these hanging around from that era. Real estate prices in Texas (I lived in Austin for 13 years) drop really fast once you get outside of a metro city area. In part because the state is enormous, but also because schools aren’t as well funded and there are a lot fewer services available outside of cities (much fewer than is typical in other states.)
It’s pretty awesome that the family who owns this kept the plans and everything. Let’s hope someone picks it up who is a fan and wants to keep it as it is!