Architecture

Wilson R. Palmer House

Harlingen, TX
Year Built – 1950
Architects – Cocke, Bowman, and York
Text and Photos – Stephen Fox
Houses on the south side of South Parkwood, such as the steel-framed Wilson R. Palmer House of 1950, met the street with brick end panels and modular side walls whose west-facing strip of clerestory windows identifies the location of corridors and closets. As on the House Designed for Living, access to the front door is through the carport. Cocke, Bowman & York unabashedly foregrounded cars in their buildings.

Construction was exposed, as you can see in the corridor serving the bedrooms, which retain their louvered sliding panels. The custom-fabricated wood and glass doors were also hinged directly to the steel columns.

The south side of the Palmer House, looking out to the deep creek valley of the Arroyo Colorado, is a line of sliding glass panels, also field fabricated, that made it possible to open the living room to the terrace.

It is the love of this house, our home, that inspred the creation of RGVMOD.com