Architect jim tittle's House is an inside job. From the outside it looks like a caretaker's shack, which it is officially supposed to be, as it is situated in an oil company's storage yard in the middle of Abilene. While the location might not be what most people consider prime, it suits architect Tittle perfectly. As he points out, "You can't see it from the street, and I don't have any yard to keep up."
Inside, the house reveals its true identity: a single man's deluxe retreat that lends itself to the quiet life or to large-scale entertaining. Basically, it is one large (900 square feet) room with raised sleeping platform, a bath, a kitchen and storage space. The interior is strongly architectural, tempered by a lavish use of natural wood--a frieze of shingles runs around the upper perimeter of the room. But its most striking element, a focal and gathering point, is a 17-foot-tall chimney hood of copper with an acidized finish that gives it a glowing patina.
A noteworthy feature of Tittle's house is that if he ever tires of the seclusion of the storage yard, he can move the house with about as little trouble as it would take to move a large trailer. The house is on stilts, and was designed to stay within the Texas highway department's maximum house- and trailer-moving allowance.
