The Bohn House - Historic Art Deco Architecture in Austin gets a 21st century update from Dick Clark + Associates

A look inside “that house on 29th street” that has kept Austinites curious for almost a century

Built in 1938 by architect Roy L. Thomas for Herbert and Alice Bohn, and now recognized as one of the most iconic and architecturally striking homes in all of Austin, The Bohn House was originally designed as a modernist escape, evoking the mythical Shangri-La in Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon. Herbert, fresh from a voyage on the Queen Mary, wanted a home that captured the Streamline Moderne style of the era, complete with aluminum railings, porthole windows, and a prow-like rotunda that gives the exterior a ship-like silhouette. Originally spanning about 4,000 square feet, the home featured innovative elements like a semi-circular solarium with a curved glass wall (now the dining room) and a hand-painted mural in what is now the media room, painted by Herbert himself.

Over the decades, the Bohn House fell into disrepair, but its bones remained strong. In 2013, Bill and Misty Reid scooped it up for $1.4 million and enlisted Dick Clark + Associates to breathe new life into it. The masterful 14-month renovation, completed in 2014, nearly doubled the size to around 6,500 square feet, adding modern amenities while preserving the Art Deco soul. The project even snagged a 2018 Residential Architect Design Award for Restoration/Preservation. As further proof of the enduring quality of the restoration + renovation, the home has recently reentered the market at a reported $13 million, almost a 10X increase in just over a decade, proving that a hyper-competent team can not only properly preserve an iconic home, but make it even better.