Untouched MCM Harris Armstrong Home for Sale

Armstrong designed this largely unknown home for the Phillips family in 1959. The clients understood the notoriety his homes would draw, so they asked that no photographs of it be published.

Four photographs of the house.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

Armstrong published drawings of the house with a short description in Arts + Architecture magazine's August 1959 issue without disclosing its location. The house is now available for sale for the first time. You have the opportunity to purchase it from the second family to own the property.

Photographs of the main living space, front
entry hall, and rear porch overlooking
the expansive property.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

The house is located at the end of a private street, and its property is heavily wooded. At the rear, the south facade overlooks land that slopes away from the suspended porches, which offer gorgeous year-round views. To the rear of the property is a protected greenway that can never be developed. Armstrong designed the house, with a focus on admitting controlled natural light to the interior and on making the indoor and outdoor spaces interconnected.

Photographs of the screened porch, covered deck
outside the bedroom wing, and doors
opening onto the porch from the great room.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

The house’s design is stridently modernist with flat roofs, large glass walls, substantial cantilevers, and wide open interior space. Nevertheless, it is constructed of local vernacular materials, including solid stone walls and a chimney with heavy timber beams spanning the interior spaces and extending beyond the exterior walls. The bedroom wing uses the vocabulary and construction of historic wooden bridges found throughout the countryside.

Photographs from the rear property looking upward
toward house, interior of the great room with
stone masonry fireplace with a copper hood,
and detail view looking south from the rear porch.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

The house is virtually unaltered from its original construction. It has had only two owners over more than six decades. The original owners who commissioned Armstrong’s design operated a lighting business, so some unique period fixtures are integral to the home.

Photographs of stone masonry north facade looking
toward the main entry, Armstrong's perspective sketch
of the north facade showing the cantilevered bedroom
wing at right, and bedroom wing constructured in the
form of a wooden bridge with a rock-filled
depression below.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

The house is located in Columbia, Missouri, home to the University of Missouri. The area offers big-city activities with a small-town atmosphere. Quality hospitals, schools, and shopping are nearby. 

Photographs of stone column supporting cantilevered
bedroom wing, Armstrong's perspective sketch of the
south facade showing floating porches, and detail of
the main porch with cantilevered overhang.
Photographs © Andrew Raimist, RaimistPhotos.com [watermarked].

To find out more about the house, its specifications, asking price, etc., click this link to view the listing online. If you're interested, contact the Realtor Brent Gardner.

Images from August 1959 issue of Arts + Architecture
magazine of the "Hillside House" designed
by Armstrong for an undisclosed location. The
text block above describes the project while the
image below is Armstrong's sketch of the first floor
plan with color amendations. The magazine promoted
modern design in the midcentury period and
was owned by publisher John Entenza. The magazine was
esponsible for establishing the Case Study House program.