Historic Manhcke Park home designed by O’Neil Ford associate gets midcentury modern, Palm Springs-style renovation in San Antonio

In the end, they decided on what David Adelman calls a “light makeover,” adding a covered porch, and expanding the closet in the master bedroom to outfit the home with period-appropriate furnishings. They’ve also completely redesigned the outdoor landscape, which has been virtually untouched for decades.

“Instead of a major remodeling, it was more like putting little jewelry on the girl,” said Adelman, president of San Antonio-based commercial real estate firm Area Real Estate. “She didn’t need a full facelift, just some recovery.”

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According to a newspaper article from 1960, the couple discovered that the 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was designed by architect Emmit Tuggle, who worked for the famous Ford firm. The home he built for himself and his family still contains many of the mid-century-chic touches that Ford and his co-stars were famous for: clean lines, a flat roof, expanses of glass, and plenty of open interior space with exposed brick.

“We love the look and feel of the house,” Adelman said. “It has everything we need, except, perhaps, a guest bathroom.”

While planning what would become a four-month renovation, the couple always tried to be aware of the home’s history.

“My friend who is another developer says the key to successful renewal is knowing when to stop,” he said. “We wanted to do it right through the house, through the Tuggle and the neighborhood.”

Adelman said the renovation cost them less than $100,000 but more than his original $50,000 budget.

The biggest change the couple made to the house was the addition of a beautiful wood-trimmed porch in the southeast corner of the house to take advantage of the prevailing breeze.

“The balcony is my favorite place in the whole house,” he said.

The couple enjoy breakfast there and Sharon often hosts mahjong games with friends. He said that when the couple’s two daughters come home from college, they live in the room. “They like to be outside in the fresh air without the mosquitoes.”

The room’s calming effect is enhanced by the continuous sound of birds flapping around the many feeders in the yard. “We always say we get lazy birds, because hard-working birds fly to the botanical garden,” Sharon said with a laugh.

Before the balcony was built, the area where you now stand was just a broken concrete slab. They poured a new base, covered it with a large hex tile floor and softened the look with a large area rug. The room is furnished with comfortable seating, including a hanging chair that looks right at home in one of the couple’s favorite spots: Palm Springs.

In fact, they have visited that desert city in California many times for decorating for inspiration, touring neighborhoods, and taking notes about the architecture and landscapes that pervaded the area in mid-century modern.

“We got rid of most of our old house furniture, so we had to start over,” Sharon said. “We love Palm Springs and wanted to make this home in California-San Antonio.” They ended up buying a number of pieces of furniture and shipping them home.

Several are now in the living room, adjacent to the porch, furnished and furnished with a mixture of vintage and reproduction pieces. These include a Rat Pack-esque liquor cabinet and a pair of original Bose 901 tweeters, with pioneering pentagonal cabinets and signature lavender stands.

Although the adjacent kitchen is small, it flows easily into the dining room, making it appear larger. “This connection is one of the other things we really love about this design,” Adelman said.

However, the kitchen had a specific look back in the ’80s, so they updated it by getting rid of a built-in desk, and moving the refrigerator to a different location. They also added some open shelves and replaced cabinet tops with walnut fronts and chevron-shaped drawer pulls, both common looks of the era, according to Edelman.

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The home’s large windows bring in as much natural light as possible. Their two daughters’ bedrooms, for example, have east-facing windows that catch the morning sun.

“Having natural daylight in the morning is best for your circadian rhythm, and I guarantee you Tuggle was aware of that,” he said. “The only thing modernists are really good at is figuring out how light works inside a home.”

Another feature is the inner courtyard, which adds about 400 square feet of living space outside the dining area.

“It’s an intimate and private place, open to the sky and lots of light inside the house,” Adelman said. “It also goes with the Mexican tradition of the inner courtyard, something that O’Neill Ford would have known for sure.”

The space is especially cozy during holidays or other special occasions. “All we have to do is open the doors and people pour right in,” Sharon said.

The most outrageous room in the house is the girls’ bathroom, which also doubles as a powder room for guests. Like something out of a Technicolor Fever dream, the walls are covered in various shades of electric pink while the woven vinyl floor is a vibrant orange.

“We wanted it to be fun, Super Palm Springs,” Sharon said. Girls love pink and orange.

The only structural changes they made were in the master bedroom, where a narrow closet made clothes storage a problem. So they extended the exterior wall about 10 feet to create an oversized closet.

Outside, the landscape continues in Palm Springs, a mid-century modern aesthetic with simple, clean lines that mirror those of the home. “The modernists were very in line with these kinds of Asian principles,” Adelman said.

The lawn is crisscrossed by gravel walkways, including a path to a seating area with a gas fire pit surrounded by a loft and several hulled chairs – the perfect place to enjoy the results of the renovation.

rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini