Why was the Darth Vader Home inbuilt West U and never Galveston? Most likely due to all of the sand.
Anybody approaching the intersection of College Boulevard and Buffalo Speedway is inevitably confronted by the Darth Vader Home. You’ll be able to’t miss the darkish carbonite exterior that dispenses with all of the pleasantries of its West College environment. For years, it appeared that no one got here or went from the monolithic construction, and it was inconceivable to glimpse any indicators of life behind the tinted home windows. The brand new proprietor hopes to vary that, with plans in place to entice extra Houstonians to return go to the grounds.
Like its nickname suggests, the Darth Vader Home is an outsider in West College. The imposing residence sits on an 18,000-square-foot lot that was a part of the unique improvement of the town that started in 1917. For many years, neighborhood architectural kinds had been primarily characterised by Craftsman bungalows nestled between bigger Tudor and Colonial Revival brick properties. Growth guidelines had been relaxed within the Nineteen Eighties, and a revised zoning ordinance led to the replatting of many smaller tons—paving the best way for the regular march of McMansions and Big White Homes all through the next a long time.
Plastic surgeon Dr. Jean Cukier bought the nook lot in 1988, in response to the possession historical past discovered within the Harris Central Appraisal District’s property document. Impressed by a stealth fighter jet reasonably than a Sith Lord’s iconic helmet, Cukier sketched the design for the 6,470-square-foot home himself. Architects Lynn Swisher Spears and Randy Hickey introduced his imaginative and prescient to life, though not with out some pushback. Building started in 1991 earlier than operating afoul of accepted plans when business metal escape hatches put in within the second ground bedrooms failed to fulfill constructing codes. A variance was ultimately granted, and building was accomplished in late 1992.
Anybody else fantasizing about standing on these stairs and yelling, “YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!” to a good friend on the backside?
Nothing a lot of be aware occurred on the property for practically 30 years, apart from the occasional passerbys snapping images. That each one modified in 2021, when Cukier put his home in the marketplace for the primary time. He had beforehand refused all requests for interviews or excursions through the years with a steadfast guardedness. Irrespective of, although, as a result of the home quickly went viral as nationwide information and social media shops started to choose up on the Zillow itemizing, revealing the stunning inside.
For a lot of Houstonians, with the ability to lastly see beneath the armor of the Darth Vader Home felt like fixing one of many metropolis’s nice mysteries. If the outside might be thought to signify the Darkish Aspect, then the open, predominantly white inside is a startling distinction. The postmodern power is robust with parts like irregular tile work and craggy edged counter tops. An enormous stone face sculpture friends into the sunken lounge in opposition to a backdrop of floor-to-ceiling plate glass home windows overlooking the yard. It is probably not the villain’s lair you’re searching for, however the twin floating staircases would nonetheless make for an epic lightsaber duel.
First listed at an asking value of $4.3 million, the home quickly attracted worldwide consideration. Rumor even had it that newly minted Houstonian 50 Cent was . It modified brokers a couple of occasions and at last bought by way of Martha Turner Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty at simply over $3 million to native realtor and property developer Jason Junkin. He owned the house for the following few years and added upgrades like a pool and higher lighting, and infrequently leased it out. Brent Franklin, a one-time tenant and consultant of a restricted legal responsibility firm concerned with the property, courted some controversy and ended up getting sued by the town of West College for allegedly internet hosting ticketed occasions on the home for “excessive web price” entrepreneurs.
Junkin put the now-infamous home, which he known as “an emotional purchase” in a Houston Chronicle interview, in the marketplace once more in July 2024, this time for $3.75 million. Native actuality TV star and realtor Washington Ho briefly represented the property and hosted a Star Wars–themed Halloween celebration along with his co-listing agent.
In the end, Nan and Firm Properties prevailed in securing the extremely sought-after sale. The home caught the attention of Mexican sculptor Enrique Cabrera, who bought it for $3.35 million in mid-April of this yr, sparking a contemporary burst of curiosity in the home’s future.
The balcony is ideal for gazing up at moons that are not actually moons.
“My intention is to protect the character of the house as a lot as doable,” Cabrera informed Houstonia in an e-mail. Cabrera is understood for his supersize public artwork sculptures, such because the appropriately massive and stylized apple La Gran Manzana in New York Metropolis. His Black Bull sculpture will quickly create a brand new photograph op in Houston, too. Cabrera revealed that the patinated bronze sculpture is “deliberate for the left aspect of the entrance yard, the place it will possibly complement the landscaping with out obstructing the view of the home and combine fantastically with the pure environment.”
He’s additionally trying to open a gallery targeted on modern artwork and is “significantly trying ahead to changing into a part of the area people, collaborating with fellow creatives, and experiencing every little thing the town has to supply.”
The following episode within the saga of the Darth Vader Home may show to be its most epic one but.
