MIRABEAU ANTIQUES

Houston, TX

Mirabeau - Building Elements

A Meeting of the Minds More than a store, Mirabeau is a sampler for design ideas Article featured in the Houston Chronicle: May 17, 2003 By: Madeleine McDermott Hamm Houston Chronicle Home Design Editor

Ask some designers for the name of a favorite upholsterer or faux painter, and you might as well have asked to borrow their credit cards. That's what makes architect Ed Eubanks' new design emporium, Mirabeau, different.

Not only does the striking three-story space feature antiques, art, decorative objects and architectural elements, but it also showcases local resources for everything from classy plumbing and hardware fixtures to landscaping. The names of all the contractors, installers, suppliers and artisans who worked on Mirabeau are available on a handout resource list, complete with phone numbers.

"Part of our concept is to be a sampler, an idea place," Eubanks says. You can look at different types of flooring, custom lighting fixtures, concrete countertops or wall finishes. Buy an antique table. Or see how the home automation system integrates everything from lights to security to music.

"I've been bringing in things from Europe and warehousing them to use in my architectural work for about 15 years. This (shop) is something I've wanted to do for years," says Eubanks, one of the architects for former president George Bush's current Houston home.

Mark Meier, who formerly managed distressed assets at Enron, is principal and director of Mirabeau. Meier was converting the upper floors of Galveston's historic Hendley Building into lofts when he met Eubanks. Both share a love for Galveston and architecture. Meier is a B.O.I. (Born on the Island), and Eubanks has done extensive work there and owns a 19th-century house.

Mirabeau is housed in a three-story, Eubanks-designed metal building at 3202 Argonne St., in the heart of the mushrooming Kirby shopping district. Daylight floods the spaces from the clerestory windows facing north and south, and a side courtyard has the look of an old European garden. In fact, the garden wall was imported from a village in Normandy, and the fountain is made from the bottom of an ancient Roman sarcophagus.

In the main showroom gallery, an enormous 17th-century mantel from Normandy is surrounded by a new limestone base and built-in shelves. The fireplace wall that looks like stone is actually covered with Italian stone that's been ground up and molded into lightweight pieces, which makes it applicable for places where heavy stones cannot be used, Meier explains.

Consistent with the idea of being a "sampler," Mirabeau contains a large, rustic-looking working kitchen. While it does display 14 different tiles, both reclaimed and new, on the floor, the wood-burning fireplace and grill will be an occasional stage for guest chefs to demonstrate their skills at special events. Also, five or six artist exhibits a year are planned.

And as staircases go, Mirabeau can claim one of the fanciest. The wide, walnut steps are complemented by an elaborate wrought iron railing by United Metal Smiths featuring various designs the company has created for Houston homes over many decades.

So what about the name, Mirabeau, which sounds more Old World than Houston? "It's a name I've liked a long time," Eubanks says. "And, the second president of the Republic of Texas was Mirabeau B. Lamar. So that gives it a good Texas Connection."