Remarkable Homes
2200 Harvard Street · Houston Heights, Houston, Texas · Built in 2004
CHURCH? TEMPLE? OR A HOUSE??
Meet Maison Blanche, an architectural outlier in the heart of Houston Heights.
Listing photography — used with permission of the listing agent
At first glance, it could be mistaken for a chapel, a temple, or perhaps a contemporary architectural museum.
But this striking white structure in Houston Heights is actually a private residence.
Known as Maison Blanche, the home challenges the architectural expectations of one of Houston's most recognizable historic neighborhoods.
Its sharply pitched rooflines, glass-enclosed tower, disciplined geometry, and minimalist exterior make it unlike almost anything surrounding it.
And that's precisely what makes it fascinating.
The Architecture
A House That Refuses to Blend In
Maison Blanche does not negotiate with its surroundings. Where the Heights favors painted wood and welcoming porches, this home answers with a chapel-like silhouette: a white vertical-panel exterior, sharply pitched rooflines, and a glass-enclosed tower rising above the treeline.
The exterior is disciplined to the point of austerity — tall, narrow windows set in strict rhythm, slender black structural elements drawing vertical lines against the white planes, and almost no ornamentation. A deeply covered breezeway breaks the verticality with a single horizontal gesture.
Built in 2004, the home was constructed as a private residence. There is no conversion story here — only a deliberate decision to build something unlike anything around it.
Front porch with the 2200 address and iron table
Chapel-like silhouette
A steep, sculpted roofline reads at first like a chapel or steeple — not a house.
The glass tower
A glass-enclosed tower rises above the street trees, the home's most recognizable gesture.
Vertical geometry
White vertical panels repeat in disciplined rhythm across every elevation.
Material contrast
Slender black structural elements against white planes; glass against stucco — kept to two moves.
Tall, narrow windows
A strict rhythm of slender openings rather than broad picture windows.
Minimal ornamentation
No gable brackets, no decorative trim. The form is the decoration.
The Grounds
An Unexpected Private Retreat in Houston Heights
Behind the white facade, the surprise: the house shares its roughly 13,000-square-foot lot with little else but trees. On a 0.30-acre inner-loop parcel, Maison Blanche feels less like an urban infill home and more like a private compound.
A long, narrow swimming pool runs through the sheltered backyard, flanked by mature trees and perimeter fencing. Covered outdoor entertaining areas — including a breezeway-style space and a rooftop terrace — extend the living footprint beyond the glass and stucco walls.
The lot holds the composition: the house anchors it, the pool and covered spaces soften it, and the landscape closes it off from the street.
“A private-compound experience in the middle of the city.”
Lot size
0.30 acres / approx. 13,000 sqft
Living area
Approx. 3,312 sqft
Bedrooms
3
Bathrooms
2 full + 1 half
Pool
Private gunite pool
Outdoor
Rooftop terrace + covered areas
The pool
A long, narrow swimming pool set deep into the sheltered backyard.
Courtyard-like shelter
Covered outdoor spaces that read as an extension of the interior.
The breezeway
A horizontal covered space that breaks the vertical facade.
Mature trees
An established canopy that screens the property from the street.
Rooftop terrace
An elevated perch above the Heights rooftops.
Perimeter fencing
A fully fenced parcel that holds the compound feeling.
The Neighborhood
A Different Kind of Architecture in a Historic Neighborhood
Houston Heights is one of the city's most recognizable historic neighborhoods: a grid of streetcar-era blocks known for its traditional bungalows, Victorian-influenced architecture, and mature, tree-lined streets.
Maison Blanche presents a different architectural vocabulary. It does not mimic its neighbors, and it does not apologize for it. That tension — historic fabric, contemporary form — is what makes this block remarkable.
The location itself is part of the value: minutes from the Heights' commercial corridors, restaurants, and shops, with straightforward access to downtown, the Medical Center, and the rest of central Houston.
Should new homes in historic neighborhoods reflect the architecture around them, or should they introduce something entirely different?
Recognition
A Home Recognized for Its Unusual Design
The property, identified as Maison Blanche, was featured in the 2016 Houston Heights Home & Garden Tour — a documented detail supported by the photographed plaque. It is a feature placement, not an architectural award.
That kind of recognition is rare for a contemporary home in the Heights, and it underlines the point the architecture already makes: this is a house the neighborhood has chosen to notice.
The Maison Blanche plaque, Houston Heights Association 2016 Home & Garden Tour
Real Estate Analysis
The Price of Being Different
Asking price: approximately $1.8 million, subject to verification and updates.
That number reflects a different real estate proposition from the larger suburban homes featured elsewhere on The Houston Move. Here, the budget buys an inner-loop location, a rare 0.30-acre parcel, architectural individuality, privacy behind fencing and mature trees, and a walk into one of Houston's most character-driven neighborhoods.
Whether that trade is right for a given buyer is a lifestyle question more than a math question. This section is informational — it is not a statement that the property is objectively worth its asking price, and it is not a forecast of future appreciation.
Asking Price
Approximately $1.8 million
Status: Active / For Sale
Subject to verification and updates.
In some Greater Houston suburbs, a similar budget may buy substantially more interior square footage. In Houston Heights, buyers may place greater value on location, land, individuality, and proximity to the city's core.
Gallery
The Property, Up Close
Would You Live Here?
Is Maison Blanche the kind of home you'd want to live in, or the kind of architecture you'd rather admire from a distance?
Looking for a Home With Character in Houston?
From historic architecture to extraordinary modern homes, The Houston Move helps buyers discover properties and neighborhoods that fit the way they want to live.
Property Information
- Property
- 2200 Harvard Street, Houston, TX 77008
- Listing status
- Active / For Sale
- Asking price
- Approximately $1.8 million
- Listing agent
- Mike Mahlstedt
- Listing brokerage
- Compass RE Texas, LLC - Houston
- MLS
- 56113254
- Photography
- Listing photography — used with permission of the listing agent
- Last verified
- 2026-10-24
This architectural feature remains available as an editorial record. When the listing status changes, the feature is preserved and the status is updated above. Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.