Page 7 - Lazy Lane

some refiguring of baths and bedrooms. Tucked into a corner incline, near the huge circular drive
and behind the grand, oversized pool, Ms. Lowe oversaw the building of a stylish guest house, the

exterior blending perfectly with its surroundings. This owner greatly improved the lush, dense
landscaping, adding more tiered stone steps that led far beneath the outer lawn to walking paths,

small picnic and outdoor sitting areas, and to a waterfall, pool and guest house. Perhaps the most
notable of this owner’s improvements was the bolstering of the property along Buffalo Bayou and a
small inlet ravine. She and her neighbor to the east joined forces to install hundreds of cement bags,

stacked one on top of the other, in the manner used by the Army Corps of Engineers. In effect, the
steep drop on the property to Buffalo Bayou became fortified with bags of cement powder which
turned to hard stone, an accomplishment both attractive and efficient.

In 1996, when Richard and Ginni Mithoff acquired the 11,676-square-foot masterpiece set among
towering trees and vast greenery, they decided an update was in order, even though they knew it

would come as a surprise to Barnstone followers and purists. Any criticism was short-lived, however,
once it became known that the Mithoffs appreciated Barnstone’s genius and wished to maintain the

integrity of what he had created, at the same time incorporating modern conveniences to fit with
more current times. To achieve this goal, they hired Bute-King Architects.

“This was a time-period house, and that part of the style needed an update,” says Martha Bute,
whose business partner, Bob King, died a few years ago. “The basic structural elements were too

exceptional to change, but the original house exterior was a 1950s brick that dated it. We kept the
brick and wrapped stucco around it.”

Before the update, the front part of the house had no windows except at the entry. Bute-King
modernized it, not only by adding stucco, but by elevating the outside with a parapet, heightening
the entry to 14 feet and changing entry interior brick walls with painted sheetrock. Across the front

three sets of large double-glass front doors and transoms were added plus two more above leading
to individual balconies. Both inside and out, elegant custom-designed iron railings replaced the
more modern original stark and utilitarian ones.