Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1462584
By Rebecca Sherman. Portrait Terry Vine. THE RAREFIED AIR OF 1661 TANGLEWOOD THE NEW RESIDENTIAL HIGH-RISE TOWER 1661 TANGLEWOOD IS SLATED TO BE ONE OF HOUSTON'S MOST COVETED ADDRESSES. AND IT COMES WITH A COST. D e s i g n e d t o be one of the most important and luxurious r e s i d e n t i a l high-rises ever constructed in Houston, 1661 Tanglewood is a family-legacy project for developer Kendall Miller, whose grandfather, William G. Farrington, developed the neighborhood of Tanglewood in 1946. Not since Jimmy Lyon built The Huntingdon at 2121 Kirby Drive in 1984, almost 40 years ago, has such a combination of dream team, location, and nerves of steel prevailed. Now Miller and his team have raised the bar, as several other developers have done in the intervening 38 years — but none as high as this. The arsenal boils down to lavish design and location — the 1661 Tanglewood site on the corner of Tanglewood Boulevard and San Felipe Street has been Miller and his family's company headquarters for 67 years. One of Texas' most prominent interior designers, J. Randall Powers, has taken the helm, alongside architecture firm Jackson & Ryan Architects. Powers' fingerprints have touched every carved pilaster and rock- crystal chandelier, and his design stamp is on the building from top to bottom, from the classically landscaped gardens to a custom fragrance for the lobby by French parfumier Trudon and the arched, Palladio-inspired top floor that includes an entertaining room and heated 75-foot swimming pool. He's also designing the lobby and all shared spaces, as well as five signature floor plans and several fully furnished turnkey residences. Powers' vita includes multiple projects that have landed in the pages of Architectural Digest and Elle Decor over his 25-year career; he's been on the Elle Decor A-List since 2012. He's known for creating powerful and crisp traditional interiors for some of the most well-known names in Houston, with projects in Dallas, Montecito, New York City, Cashiers, and Newport. He incorporates blue-chip art collections and a refined and rarefied patina, all of which he plans to deliver at 1661 Tanglewood. "I'm a classicist, and this building will have an Upper East Side, Fifth Avenue feel," he says. "Pilasters, columns, and moldings." An important inspiration for Powers is the architecture of Rosario Candela, 62