For Sale: Architect John Barthel's Award-Winning Home, Which Doubles As Fine Art

If you had $425,000-ish to drop on a new home, would you buy: a two-bed, two-bath ca. 1794 clapboard house in Providence, Rhode Island; a one-bedroom, two-bath log cabin in Cougar Gulch, Idaho (no doubt the setting of a more rustic Cougar Town spin-off); or this four-bedroom, two-bath midcentury modern on 8931 Capri Court, not far from Northwest Highway and Plano Road? That's the what-if inspired by this morning's New York Times, which peeks the MLS listings, plays a game of compare-and-contrast and directs our attention to a significant piece of Dallas architectural history on the market for around $186,000 more than what DCAD says it's worth, but, hey, how do you price-tag fine art?

The Times hints at the house's historical significance: built in '59, one of several homes in the neighborhood built by the architects who actually lived in 'em and the recipient of a 2002 American Institute of Architects award. But it doesn't say to whom the house belonged: John Barthel, who, in 1952, moved to Dallas from Chicago to work with George Dahl; and who designed the St. Pius X church and rectory in the mid-1960s.

According to DCAD, Barthel was the home's sole owner; according to The Times, "Everything in the house is original, including tile mosaics and a mural painted by the architect on closet doors in the entryway." It received Dallas AIA's "25 Year Residential Award" in '02; jurors were particularly impressed with the "angular folded roofs that shelter two rotated living volumes underneath and float effortlessly above the site's lush, green carpet." Reason the house is on the market: Barthel died on April 2 at the age of 88.

Update: Slide show!