Granger House and The Perch

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Granger House and The Perch, out of Travis County. Now, some buildings just sit there. They hold their ground, do their job, and let the years roll over them.

And then there are buildings that tell you exactly who built them, the moment you lay eyes on them. Charles Granger was that kind of architect. Born in 1913, Granger was working in Austin when, in 1938, he designed something a little unexpected tucked at the rear of a lot.

Just a garage and an apartment, two stories, nothing grand on paper. But Granger gave it a stucco façade and a continuous band of unadorned steel windows, clean and deliberate, not a flourish in sight. People called it The Perch.

And the marker will tell you it's a rare Austin example of residential International Style architecture. Rare. In a city that loves its quirks, that word carries some weight.

Now, Granger's story didn't stop there. He married Marjorie Dodge in 1946, and not long after, a Victorian-era home that had been standing on that same lot was removed. With it gone, Granger had a blank canvas and a growing family to house.

So he designed a larger home, a midcentury modern house, completed around 1951, built right into a hillside, with a lower rear level tucked against the slope like it had always belonged there. The back of the house opens up in glass, a full rear elevation of it. And the front?

Unpainted corrugated asbestos panels. Not what most folks would picture for a family home, but Granger wasn't most folks. That family would eventually grow to include four children.

Charles Granger lived until 1966, leaving behind a lot on which two of his designs still stand together, The Perch from 1938 and the house from around 1951, one architect's work in conversation with itself across more than a decade. Sometimes the most interesting stories are hiding right there at the back of the lot.

What the marker says

Austin architect Charles Granger (1913-1966) designed the two-story garage and apartment structure at the rear of this lot in 1938. “The Perch” features a stucco façade and a continuous band of unadorned steel windows, and is a rare austin example of residential international style architecture. Granger married Marjorie Dodge in 1946, and when an existing Victorian-era home was removed from the lot, granger designed a larger home for his growing family, which would eventually include four children. The midcentury modern house was completed ca. 1951 and incorporates a lower rear level built into a hillside. Exterior elements include a façade of unpainted corrugated asbestos panels and a glass rear elevation.