LOCAL Houston | The City Guide September 2016 | Page 40

NOLO STUDIOS
CREATING COMMUNITY
By Tim Moloney | Photography Courtesy of Boulevard Realty, Renderings by Avoid Obvious

LED BY A VERY FAMOUS AND FAMILIAR NAME IN THE HOUSTON ART WORLD, A NEW COMMUNITY FOR WORKING ARTISTS IS TAKING ROOT IN RURAL ACRES HOMES, A DIVERSE AND
WOODSY NEIGHBORHOOD NORTH OF THE LOOP. ITS NAME IS NOLO STUDIOS, AND THE
DESIGNER AND DEVELOPER IS FRANCOIS DE MENIL.
“I have been more and more involved with the Menil Foundation,” the New York-based architect
explains. “So I’ve been making more trips to Houston. When a group of artists approached me with
the idea for this project, it seemed like a wonderful opportunity to create a community.”

The neighborhood has been attracting artists priced out of Montrose and the Heights for years, says
Star Massing, an agent with Boulevard Realty who holds the exclusive listings on the development.
“It’s been a continual movement of artists to the area; residents include Trenton Doyle-Hancock, Terrell
James, Nestor Topchy, Ed Wilson, Carter Ernst, Paul Kittelson, Tim Glover and more. The Art Guys
also have their studio there.” (Full disclosure: Massing is married to Jack Massing, one of the Art
Guys.)
“I was working with a group of artists that were looking for large tracts of land to build on in Acres
Homes,” she continues. “Since there is no infrastructure – it’s just rural land – it was cost-prohibitive
for individuals to develop on their own. So, they decided to join together and develop the artist
colony together. The whole project was artist-driven.”

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