A. Jack Tullos House

• Designed by: William B. Wiener Sr. of William B. Wiener and Associates
• Design year: 1954

A. Jack Tullos spent his entire professional life as a hotel manager following in the footsteps of his father. He was manager of the mammoth Washington-Youree Hotel in Shreveport from 1929-1952. Sam Wiener Jr. had a financial interest in the Washington-Youree, and as such, architects Samuel G. Wiener Sr. and William B. Wiener Sr. spent time at the hotel and were acquainted with Jack Tullos. Tullos left the Washington-Youree to develop, with a small group of investors, a new highway hotel on U.S. Highway 80 (the Dixie Overland Highway)—the southernmost transcontinental route in the United States. After his positive experiences with the Wieners at the Shreveporter Highway Hotel (now demolished), Tullos contracted with William B. Wiener Sr. to design his modest in size, but richly detailed, residence on Country Club Drive about .75 miles west of the hotel.

Wiener employed a Marcel Breuer-inspired bi-nuclear “T” shaped plan strategy which he began experimenting with in 1948. The public portions of the house including living, dining, kitchen and breakfast rooms were located on the east side of the head of the “T”. The private portions of the house including the three bedrooms and bathrooms were located on the west end of the head of the “T”. The leg of the “T” housed the 2-vehicle carport and a service porch. Both the Tullos house and the Muslow house were designed in 1954; however, the Muslow house is more than twice the size of the Tullos house. As with most “T” plan houses, Wiener planned the Tullos residence using a 6’-0” module as opposed to the 8’-0” module he used at his own house or a 7’-0” module as used at the Muslow house. Different overall house sizes can be accommodated by varying the module dimension illustrating the flexibility of Wiener’s “T” planning strategy.