This one is really tricky–I almost missed it completely. As you might imagine, there are a lot of pictures of yards in the collection of a landscaper. Perhaps one might not be paying total attention at all times when looking at them–they can start to look the same after a while. But on closer examination, this one turns out to be super cool. It’s the Harry Wiess House, today the Rice president’s house, taken from what is now the back side. And if you zoom in, you can see Rice’s main gate off to the right. What a strange view! It’s gone today, of course.

And of course the photo is undated. So let’s guess. The house, a William Ward Watkin design, was built in 1920, but the wall that surrounds it today didn’t go up until about 1930, when a large renovation was done by John Staub. One other thing–I’m pretty sure the house got an addition in about 1925. I don’t think I see an addition here, so I’m going with somewhere between 1920 and 1925. That’s a range I can live with, anyway. Any thoughts?