DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Angelo and Lillian Minella House. Now, most great Texas stories involve oil, or cattle, or some legendary stretch of open road. This one involves plumbing and heating supply — and don't you dare laugh, because what Angelo and Lillian Minella built out of that business is still standing in Houston, and it is something to see.
By 1946, the Minellas had made their way to Houston. Angelo was running a plumbing and heating supply company, which is not the most glamorous calling, but it keeps a city alive, and apparently it kept the Minellas comfortable enough to do something remarkable. They hired an architect — Allen R.
Williams, Jr. — and they told him they wanted a home. Williams finished that home in 1950. And what he delivered wasn't just a house for one Houston family.
He had been developing what you might call a standardized, all-masonry plan — a design he used in various iterations for other Houston families too. He even gave them a name: Century Built Homes. Several of them.
A whole lineage of houses cut from the same architectural cloth. The Minella house is built of concrete tiles. It's got a complex roofline — the kind that catches your eye before you can explain why.
A dominant brick chimney rising up like it means business. Planter boxes softening the edges just enough. And then those clean, asymmetrical lines that mark it as exactly what it is: mid-twentieth century Ranch style, the signature look of an era when America was done with the war and ready to build something lasting.
Angelo and Lillian Minella moved to Houston, hired the right man for the job, and got themselves a house that outlasted them both. That's not a small thing. That's a legacy poured right into the concrete tiles.
Some people leave a name on a building. These two left the building itself.
What the marker says
By 1946, Angelo and Lillian Minella had moved to Houston, where Angelo operated a plumbing and heating supply company. The couple hired architect Allen R. Williams, Jr. to design this residence, finished in 1950. It was one of several "Century Built Homes" designed by Williams, who developed a standardized, all-masonry plan used in various iterations by other Houston families. Built of concrete tiles, the home features a complex roofline, dominant brick chimney and planter boxes, and the clean, asymmetrical lines typical of mid-20th century Ranch style houses. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2006