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N ew Orleans architect Lee Ledbetter relishes the chance to work in Houston as often as possible. "There is a can-do, will-do attitude, an optimism and energy there," he told me from his Crescent City offices on St. Charles Avenue. As in New Orleans, he says, Houston is brimming with great architecture and clients who appreciate a sense of history. He has renovated houses in Memorial and on Chimney Rock, and most recently he returned to Houston for the revitalization of a 1982 modern house designed by late Houston architect and antiquarian Marvin "Skipper" Watson Jr. The homeowner, John B. Connally IV, a Houston attorney and grandson of former Texas Governor John B. Connally Jr., is also an avid architecture buff. "John B. can give you the most incredible tours of Houston architecture, from the work of Philip Johnson to John Staub," Ledbetter says. "He's a scholar and historian, with an almost encyclopedic memory of Staub houses." Connally clearly knows a great house, and this one impressed Ledbetter from the moment he saw it. "I loved the '70s vibe with its massive double- height living room and all that natural light," he says. "Those amazing deep skylights are everywhere. They're so unexpected and sculptural." The brown-brick floors remind him of those found in Philip Johnson's iconic Glass House. His muse for the house was an unexpected if not glamorous choice: '70s fashion icon Halston. "The house told us what to do," Ledbetter says. "If a house has a story to tell — and this one did — that means it's a really good house." Ledbetter is known for imbuing historic New Orleans homes with modern sophistication while retaining their original graciousness. His new constructions include a modern hilltop villa at Avery Island, Louisiana, and contemporary artists' studios at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. Ledbetter designed sculpture gardens at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and a new sculpture pavilion of his design will be unveiled in May. An artist and collector, he's a rare breed of architect who also designs interiors. "I think about a project holistically," he says. "While we are renovating or designing the architecture, we are also thinking about furniture placement and views. Our initial sketches always show a furniture plan that starts with how you will walk through and use the rooms, where you'll sit, play cards, eat. We think a lot about where art will hang. That level of detail." Many of Ledbetter's projects have been published in Architectural Digest, including his own modernist gem in New Orleans. A monograph of his work comes out this month, The Art of Place: Lee Ledbetter — Architecture and Interiors (Rizzoli, $55), and includes the Connally home. Ledbetter will be in Houston at Found, Thursday, April 25, 6 to 8 pm, to sign his book. A t first glance, historic old New Orleans houses have little in common with architect Marvin Watson's 20th- century masterpiece. But like many residences in the French Quarter and Garden District, this Houston house has stunning interior architecture that gives it elegance and grace. It also shares an important design element with many of its New Orleans counterparts: a prominent hallway, or spine, leading from the entry through the length of the house, with rooms coming off. The hallway did little to showcase the grand cathedral ceilings and skylights of Connally's living room, so the walls were removed. "I love to open up hallways and make them part of other rooms," Ledbetter says. "I often do this in 19th-century New Orleans houses, where you find wide center or side hallways and narrow openings." Here, Ledbetter cleverly connected the two areas with a custom translucent display case for Connally's antique lead soldiers. The large collection, which the lawyer has amassed since childhood, represents historic war campaigns from around the world. Opened up, the voluminous living room begged for the kind of glamorous treatment of Halston's East 63rd Street townhouse in the 1970s. "He had a specific point of view for interiors, with super- sleek furniture, lots of gray mohair, very little color. It coincided with the Studio 54 era and feel," the architect says. Ledbetter banked the 30-foot-long living room with a custom-designed 30-foot sofa in gray mohair. All of the main spaces in the house received similar treatment with luxurious gray upholstery and custom gray carpeting. The color scheme presented challenges, however. "I'd never done an all-gray project before, and I had no idea how hard it would be," he says. "The problem with gray is that it can go reddish taupe or blue green. We wanted a true gray, right in the middle of the color spectrum. We'd get samples of fabrics, then when we received the cuttings, they would be off slightly. It was a really tricky project, but in the end it was amazing." Ledbetter designed most of the furniture in the house, including sofas, coffee tables, and upholstered chairs. "I rarely use furniture from showrooms," he says. "If I have a certain amount of room, I don't want the size of the sofa to dictate the size of my end tables." Along with his own designs, Ledbetter mixed vintage classics by Mies van der Rohe, Harvey Probber, Mario Bellini, Milo Baughman, and Cedric Hartman. "These are beautiful pieces of furniture, but we use them sparingly," he says. "There's a repertoire that a lot of architects fall back on — they'll fill a space with nothing but Cassina, or predictable icons like the Barcelona chair. The Barcelona is one of the most beautiful chairs ever designed, but it's virtually impossible to sit in one comfortably. There's a whole language of design out there to take advantage of." In Ledbetter's hands, rooms are crisp and functional, but also luxurious and dashing. The dining room doubles as an alluring library, with wraparound bookshelves, Mies van der Rohe Brno chairs, and a custom red mohair banquette. Upstairs in the study, walls are bathed in a color he calls Hershey's chocolate. The color ties into the brown-brick flooring downstairs, but it also references one of Ledbetter's favorite inspirations. "I'm a huge Billy Baldwin fan," he says of the legendary decorator who glamorized brown as a wall color in the 1960s. The study is the most colorful room in the house, with an antique Oushak rug from the 1920s in Mies van der Rohe Barcelona daybed by Knoll. Vintage Harvey Probber chairs from Showplace Antique + Design Center, New York.