The second article from the June 1963 Mississippi Architect is about a house in Jackson’s Woodland Hills neighborhood, the Reid House. Those of you who have been around MissPres for a while may remember that this house was featured in the Clarion-Ledger last year and is recognized around town as “the house with trees growing through the roof.” You can’t see the trees in this article because they weren’t part of the original design, but you can see where they are now growing–through the square openings in the eaves on the front of the house. As we discovered from that C-L article, the young designer of the house, Nick Davis in the Jay T. Liddle firm, heartily approves of the trees, which are the primary change to the house’s design.

———————————

Mr. and Mrs. Sam Reid
Jackson, Miss.
Owners

Jay T. Liddle, Jr., AIA
Jackson, Miss.
Architect

RESIDENCE

The lot on which this residence was built changed hands a number of times prior to the present ownership. Several houses has been designed for it, but all schemes were abandoned because of the difficult triangular shape and steep slope.

The owners have no children at home and wanted to have one master bedroom as part of a closely knit family complex with a somewhat remote guest wing linked by a formal living room.

Since no major level changes were desired, the slope had to be cut down and a retaining wall built along most of the southwest property line. The resultant more-gradual slope was used to advantage in minor floor level changes.

The living room is fully glazed, front and back, to take visual advantage of the long axis of the site and the pool and fountain forecourt. Privacy and a controlled entrance path were obtained by the long front wall. The lighted fountain is a center of interest day and night.

The interior kitchen and dressing rooms were given a luminous ceiling with light supplied by skydomes during the day and fluorescent fixtures at night.

Because of unstable soil conditions, precast concrete “double tees” on grade beams and piling were used in the floor and foundation construction. Standard wood framing was employed with steel used for long spans in the living room and carport.

Exterior materials used include Norman rock-face brick, wood windows and doors. The roof is terne metal of the Bermuda, horizontal-seam, type. Walks and terraces are of exposed pebble finished concrete, modulated with strips of brick pavers and ceramic tile. The fountain is copper tubing with the basin of pebble finished concrete.

Interior walls are sheetrock, wood panelling [sic] and brick. Ceilings are sheetrock and acoustical tile. Floors are brick or covered with sheet vinyl or carpets. Except for operating units, all windows are glazed with insulating glass.

Floodlights are used in front and rear landscaping. Pedestrian lights mark the frontwalk. Cove lighting is featured in the living room. Heating and cooling is provided by year-round air conditioning, using gas chillers.

Here’s a contemporary picture of the house in Woodland Hills, Jackson. I took it from the wrong angle, but you can kind of see the trunks of the trees going up through the square openings in the eave.

—————————————-

This article is reprinted from the June 1963 issue of the Mississippi Architect, with permission from the Mississippi Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. View the full June 1963 issue of Mississippi Architect in a digitized format, or for other articles in this ongoing series, including the pdf version of each full issue, click on the MSArcht tab at the top of this page.

Categories: Architectural Research, Jackson