Post #401026 by Koitiki on Wed, Aug 13, 2008 10:23 AM

Sorry Mike. Hadn't checked this thread out in a while. The house is in Port Aransas, TX. It's what got me started on tiki. I'm always looking for unusual accomodations when traveling and happened upon this rental place online. Didn't have many pics online so I was floored when we got there. Within 3 minutes I said, "I'm going to own this house someday," just thinking it was a pipe dream. It did actually go up for sale a year or so ago. The man who owned it was a crotchety old geezer who hadn't done ANYTHING to fix it up in 30 years. We had some investors lined up and were seriously interested, but after an inspection revealed how much money would have to be put into it on top of the sale price, it fell through. Even rentals couldn't make it break even. Anyway, the owner couldn't tell me the architect's name, but did say he designed it for himself and lived there. Apparently the "Pod House" as it is called is the stuff of local legends, hosting many wild parties, hosting the Dallas Cowboys, and was a brothel for some time. That last part is easy to believe if you saw the huge round tubs and mirrors everywhere. One of my friends was convinced the house was wired with cameras to broadcast seedy videos over the internet. haha. A builder on the island did buy it and remodel it. I haven't seen it, but talked to them extensively about the need to preserve as much as possible. It wasn't very far away from being eligible for Historical Building status. They seemed like they were going to preserve quite a bit, but they did say they gave some carpet sculptures off the wall to the demo workers, and the worst- the wife wanted to paint the lava rock wall beige! Arghh! They also have an incredible Witco dining set I told them must stay with the house- or sell it to me!
As it was before remodeling: The property was entirely fenced. The gates had tiki head handles. To enter the front door, you must first cross a rock bridge over the pool. (You can swim beneath this) In it's heyday there was a stream of water running down the steps to the bridge. There was an actual channel marker made into a fountain next to the pool and two garages, one of which has a rock mosaic of palm trees. The building itself is two octagon-like pods supported by a single pole each. Have to post more pics and more about the inside later. This is probably more than you ever wanted to know!