Words Christopher Ferguson, RA | Photos Baptiste Despois

Curb Appeal & Bold Ideals

Architects Jose Minguell and Laura McQuary consider their home on Canterbury Street a lifelong project, its thoughtful design merely the latest chapter in an unfolding story, responsive to the shifting needs of a family of four.

“It comes down to the fact that we’re doers,” says Jose, explaining the philosophy behind his architecture and general contracting practice that he operates with Laura, his wife and business partner. “You follow your instincts, and when you’re done, you can understand the solution better, and then you revisit it when needed,” he smiles. “The home is a little like that, always in process.” 

The couple’s single-family home, which originally dates back to the 1940s, began as a modest, 700 square foot structure with only a couple of rooms. Today, from its corner lot in Austin’s Holly neighborhood, it reads like a celebration of its authors’ process. 

Two discrete, connected volumes step back quietly from the rear of the original home. A single height space with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street yields to three carefully stacked levels of angular rooms and loft spaces, organized around an expressive steel spiral staircase. 

From outside, the specificity of the home’s curious form speaks to the purposes of its interior spaces. It feels poised and in harmony with its neighbors but doesn’t bow to prescriptions of conformity. The “push and pull” of its taut shapes, along with the deliberate placement of its windows, suggest that the home exists exactly as it needs to be. 

Inside, the varied spaces bloom with the momentum of rich lives underway, and the beauty of the architecture feels decidedly, and surprisingly, secondary. The rooms are careful to support, but not upstage, the symphony of life being composed within its walls. Like any great symphony, Jose and Laura’s next movement will be something to eagerly anticipate.

Getting Detailed:
Jose and Laura also design and manufacture bespoke custom furniture. Their latest creation is the cello bench for people whose lives evolve around stringed instruments.