6748 Meadowlawn Street

6748 Meadowlawn Street (Resource Number 0176, Photo 8) was designed by Harry A. Turner and built in 1940 for Mr. and Mrs. John Lroy; it has been described as a “Moderne extravaganza.” Featured in the Houston Architectural Guide and Houston Deco: Modernistic Architecture of the Texas Coast, the two-story, three-bay house is oriented to the northwest. It is irregular in plan, with an asymmetrical façade covered with painted brick and original asbestos shingles over a wood frame. The predominant Art Moderne feature of the house is the smooth curved wall at the northwestern corner with its long stepped glass block window and decorative geometric brick detailing near the flat roofline. The southern block of the house contains metal hopper windows. The northern block features a projecting one story garage with glass block windows on the western façade. A porch railing has been added to the garage roof, as has a scalloped awning, but the house retains its streamlined form and numerous other original features and therefore retains its integrity in spite of these alterations. The single entry door is the original wood panel, which is set into a one-bay, flat-roofed porch that has wood columns and a concrete deck. According to architect Ben Koush, a mural of magnolia blossoms painted on plaster remains on the interior, as does a 1960s fallout shelter. The elevated landscape contains grass, shrubs, new trees, and bedding plants. Despite the unsympathetic addition to the roof of the attached garage, the house is little altered, and therefore retains integrity and contributes to the historic district. A shed in the side yard was added after Idylwood’s period of significance and is therefore noncontributing.