Play It Cool

In balmy Texas, Ashe Leandro brings urbane style and a chill vibe to a home in a historic district.

- Alex Beggs

Ask a Houstonian, "Do you know River Oaks?" and they'll reply: "Christmas lights." They'll mention driving 75 minutes in a beat-up minivan and stopping for Whataburger en route to see the glittering display the neighborhood is so famous for that Google Maps has declared it a "tourist attraction." The minivan will slowly roll past an eclectic mix of opulent and historic homes that unfurl along tree-lined streets-a French château here, a stately American Colonial there, a Tudor estate with a corset of half-timbering just behind that fence. They comply with River Oaks' 100-year-old deed restrictions that stipulate a handful of revival architectural styles. Some bend the rules, however, stretching their homes to the edges of the property lines like potbellies straining over big belt buckles.

On a quieter street in River Oaks, where the homes are smaller and the extravagance toned down, a family of four tucks in behind a clay-roofed Mediterranean-style home that could have been built for an Old Hollywood starlet, when in fact it was built just a few years ago by revered architects Curtis & Windham. "It's not what you'd expect to see in Texas," says architect Bill Curtis in a Southern gentleman's delicate drawl. "The stucco walls are thick, they're robust, they're heavy."