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57 Left: In the guest room, a mid-century chest by Danish designer Peter Hvidt is flanked by a chair by Robert Wilson, the international theater and opera designer whom Butler represents. An early American painted chair topped by an icon painting by Houston artist Nestor Topchy. Works on paper by Michelle Grabner, Tony Feher, John Cage, Georges Braque, and Ian Hamilton Finley. Hat evokes a Greek Corinthian helmet. Above: In the dining area, Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs encircle the New England drop-leaf table, probably hailing from New Hampshire, dating 1790-1820. Most of the furniture in the home came from Andrew Spindler Antiques. The black Mexican tile was inspired by a similar floor in the de Menil home. H iram Butler is like an onion. Even though I've known him for more than 20 years, the intimate act of photographing his new home revealed hidden layers, depths, and strata. For 90 minutes, we tidied the stacks of books in his bedroom; studied the artwork, antiques, and antiquities studiously placed about; and chatted earnestly with his hus- band, antiquarian Andrew Spindler-Roesle, about their role in the chapel-like Ellsworth Kelly space in Austin. Like its owners, the new home represents a marriage of yesterday and today — a testament to lives lived in cerebral and passionate investigations of truth and beauty. Each man is at the top of his game. Butler is the epitome of an art dealer who is as close as you can come to a de Menil aesthetic and stance — no marketplace frenzy here, nor glam- ming onto the latest art-fair bandwagons. He once famously stated during a panel discussion, "Looking for art at an art fair is like looking for love in a red light district." His client list includes museum trustees and the late Dominique de Menil. Through more than three decades, he has presented understated exhibitions for artists from Glassell School director Joe Havel to James Turrell, Forrest Bess, London-based installation artist Michael Petry, Tony Feher, and Jennifer Bartlett. Butler shep- herded a stained-glass commission at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church for Bartlett in 1998, the beginning of his work with artists and sacred spaces. Spindler-Roesle, who splits his time between Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Houston, is an Honorary Life Overseer and Benefactor at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He also sits on the Collections Committee and Council of Historic New England and was on the board of the Cape Ann Museum, in the 17th- century maritime town of Gloucester, where his main residence has been for decades. He operates his eponymous antiques shop nearby, in Essex. His Arts and Crafts home has been featured in The New York Times for its sensitive take on the past. THE JOURNEY TO BUILD Eleven years ago, Butler and Spindler-Roesle wed at the Live Oak Friends Meeting House in Houston. Butler, a Quaker, had played a leading role in the commissioning of the James Turrell skyspace that is the defining feature of the sacred space. Turrell himself was in attendance at the wedding; Butler has represented the light master for more than 30 years. The couple lived in Butler's Victorian cottage, a quaint preserved house adjacent to Hiram Butler Gallery, located in the West End neighborhood poetically known as Magnolia Grove. Once a crumbling husk and a home to squirrels, the cottage had been restored in a monastic fashion — bare and sparsely decorated, save for the art. "It was once so empty, people would ask, 'Does anyone live here?'" Butler says. But Butler added more antiques to the household after their marriage, and "that changed to 'How do you live here?'" Within a decade, the time had come for a new domicile to contain their treasures. "The design of the house was really Hiram's idea," Spindler-Roesle says. "I might have had an influence over some of the parts of the interiors. There's a lot of cross-fertilization, which is nice." The men also wanted to make a home that signified their life together. Their new Houston residence arose at a perfect — and extremely convenient — spot: a vacant corner of Butler's existing compound, facing his original historic home. The gallery is vis- ible down an allée lined with crepe myrtles, agaves, and fantail palms. Architect Marshall Reid and builder Brian Dupre of 243 Builders carried out Butler's exacting vision. Reid notes: "Hiram and I have similar aesthetic beliefs and taste. We would debate aesthetics — he won some, I won some — but we made sure the design concept was never compromised." Reid, whose hallmarks are his use of light and sense of space within his buildings, knew Butler from years in the art world. The commission began with a sketch that Butler had done. "From the start, it was a must that the design be simple, effortless, and timeless," Reid says. "This became the vision and the start of the collaboration."