DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it right along to you. Now, Simon Minchen was not a man who did things small. Born in 1886, he made his name as a pioneer in the oil and gas industry — not just in Texas, mind you, but in Oklahoma and Louisiana too.
Real estate investment on top of that. So when Simon and his wife Mamie — she was a Pesses before she became a Minchen, born in 1887 — when those two went looking for a place to put down roots in Houston, they weren't about to settle for ordinary. In 1930, they purchased a lot for four thousand five hundred dollars.
That was no small sum when the rest of the country was tightening its belt. But the Minchens were just getting started. They turned around and hired Joseph Finger — a noted Houston architect, that's the marker's own word for him, noted — and paid him twelve hundred and fifty dollars to design the house.
Then came W. J. Goggan, the contractor.
Now the marker takes a moment to tell you something about Goggan, and that tells you something right there. He was known for his exceptional craftsmanship. When a marker stops to say that about a builder, you can bet the building earned it.
Goggan finished the house in 1931, and the final cost came to twenty-five thousand dollars. What did all that money and all that talent produce? A rare example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Houston.
Clay tile roof arching over the whole thing. Arched windows. Arched doors.
In a city of heat and hustle, the Minchen House arrived looking like it had somewhere better to be and decided to stay anyway. Mamie Minchen, for her part, lived until 1986 — long enough to see nearly the whole twentieth century pass through those arched doors. Some houses outlast their builders.
Some houses outlast almost everyone. This one had a head start.
What the marker says
A pioneer in the oil and gas industry in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, real estate investor Simon Minchen (1886-1958) and his wife, Mamie (Pesses) (1887-1986), purchased this lot in 1930 for $4,500. They paid noted Houston architect Joseph Finger $1,250 to design this house for their family, and contractor w. J. Goggan, known for his exceptional craftsmanship, completed it in 1931 for $25,000. A rare example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Houston, the Minchen House exhibits prominent characteristics of that style, including the clay tile roof and arched windows and doors. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1999