Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1376323
67 BY REBECCA SHERMAN. RENOVATIONS ARCHITECT GORDON PARTNERS DESIGN. PHOTOGRAPHY LISA PETROLE. ART DIRECTION MICHELLE AVIÑA. A GRAND 1913 HOUSE IN HISTORIC COURTLANDT PLACE, BUILT FOR ANOTHER ERA, IS GENTLY RESTORED BY OWNERS ASHLEY AND STEVE PUTMAN. DREAMS OLD HOUSE A s the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. Such was the case for Ashley and Steve Putman, who had their hearts set on an old house in Houston's historic Courtlandt Place, only to lose their bid to a competing buyer. "I cried for a week," Ashley says. Soon after, their real estate agent phoned and told them the house across the street from it had just become available in a private sale. Ashley remembered gazing at it across the boulevard, its palatial, columned façade as splendid as it must have been a century earlier. Fearing a repeat of their last experience, the Putmans immediately rushed over. Stepping inside, they were greeted by a massive oak entry hall, reception area, and grand staircase. "I was, like, wow! We fell for it quickly and put a bid in the next day. With a little negotiating, we got it." The 1913 Neoclassical Revival-style house is one of 18 remaining original houses in Courtlandt Place, established in 1906 as an exclusive neighborhood southwest of downtown for Houston's wealthy businessmen and their families. This house, along with many others on the street, was designed by Fort Worth architects Sanguinet & Staats. The firm was prolific in the '20s and '30s with such noteworthy structures as the San Jacinto Monument and the Gulf Building in Houston, said to be the tallest building in Texas at the time. Houses in Courtlandt Place were designed to impress, and the house