Arthur Dallas Stenger began building houses in the 1940s in Austin, primarily on Arthur Lane in the Barton Hills area, named after his father (the first Arthur Dallas Stenger), who was also an architect. Although Stenger attended the University of Texas School of Architecture after returning home from World War II, he never graduated. He earned his architecture license as a college student and began building homes for postwar Austinites.

Although FHA loans had built-in design restrictions, Stenger didn’t stop him from creating unique homes that were moderately priced, even if he had to help homeowners find loans. He, too, worked differently than other builders, buying land (mainly in the Barton Hills and Pemberton Heights areas), finding a buyer, and building a house without having his clients sign contracts. There was no pressure on the buyer to keep the home upon completion, although clients rarely backed down after viewing the home.

A Stenger house, with characteristic gabled roofs, clad with concrete, wood rock, and other organic materials, will be highlighted. He also used rocks and stones quarried from the house site as siding or built into the chimney, which helped the house blend easily into its surroundings. Stenger loved long, low fireplaces reminiscent of 1950s living rooms, so every home he built included a wood-burning fireplace, though it wasn’t particularly necessary in the heart of Texas.

The homes also have many of the conveniences that Austin’s great modern building boom now costs, with walls of windows and clerestory windows hanging just below the exposed roofline, and stained concrete floors, which now cost about $10 per square foot. He also used the organic building theory of “bringing the outside in,” placing exterior stonework through the house and into its interior.

Although Barton Hills was featured as “the world’s largest air-conditioned subdivision” in the 1956 Parade of Homes, Stenger did not build his homes with central air conditioning. Instead, he built large windows to catch the morning light, not the hot mid-afternoon sunlight, and a floor plan to allow breezes through the vents when the windows were open.

In 1957, when Stenger’s friend, radio host John Henry Faulk, ended up blacklisted as a communist in the McCarthy era, he built and financed a house for him, knowing his friend was burdened with legal fees. He also took into account the financial situation of his other clients, helped offset furniture costs with various built-ins, and priced their homes between $18,000 and $22,000, though today they can range from $400,000 to $600,000. .

Stenger built around 100 unique homes in the Austin area, building the last one for his wife Jean in 1999, a few years before she died in 2002 at the age of 82. Today’s battle is among those seeking Stenger houses for their originality and high use. of space, and others who prefer to tear down these houses to build bigger houses, since the places are highly sought after just for their land.