With the George W. Bush Presidential Center by Robert A.M. Stern Architects opening in Dallas this month, it is worth taking a look at another architectural commission from “W.” The rarely seen ranch house in Crawford, Texas, was designed by David Heymann of Austin in 1999. A vacation house, of course, is very different in scope and intent from a presidential library. But the two architects involved in each project agree that the principal client for both the house and the library was the former first lady, Laura Bush, who encouraged them to design to the highest environmental standards. She assumed her role as an architecture client easily: Laura Welch Bush had grown up in Midland, Texas, the daughter of a home builder. “I was surrounded by construction projects,” she says, “and architectural plans were lying around our house all the time.” Her father often moved the family into the latest house he had built, giving the client-in-waiting much exposure to residential architecture.
The house at Prairie Chapel Ranch, the Bushes' 1,580-acre tract of land in Crawford (population 712), was dubbed the “Western White House” during Bush's two terms. About 100 miles northeast of Austin, the modest, well-engineered, modern dwelling sits comfortably in the Texas terrain. Despite the anemic environmental regulations that characterized the Bush presidency, back home the Bushes are patient stewards of their land, living in a house that is environmentally sustainable.
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