Living in New England most of their lives and traveling extensively during that time, art connoisseurs and humanitarians John Harcourt and Sue Ellen Stavrand are happy to be in Texas and delighted to call Wimberley their home; and home just happens to be Old Oaks Ranch—the aged rockhouse which is appropriately nestled under an enormous seven-hundred-year-oldoak tree.

Approaching the home on a sunny day, the intuitive might be able to imagine the artistic overtones and undertones thatlie within these walls by taking note of the fractured shadows that fall on themortared stone of the façade, forming a single giant mosaic. But nothing really prepares you for the combination of warmth and light, old and new, whimsical and elegant, and the imaginativeuse of color in this home filled to the brim with treasured works of art. And art takes many forms—it doesn’t just hang on walls—sometimes it can be a wall.

Walk through the front door and turn around, the wall behind you is made of iron and glass, a beautiful symphony of squares thatinvites in the natural light of the ranch while artfully disguising the door once it is closed. Inside you are surrounded by a harmonious blend of stone, concrete and wood. A span of arches tempts you into the friendly sitting room, made more so by the use of sunny yellow that adorns the walls and covers the chairs. The room invites a good book, a glass of wine and a cheerful fire.

The formal dining room sings with the colors of the Caribbean, and each and everything in this room—including the magnificent paintings—is a work of art in its own right—from the stunning, custom made, contemporary dining room table designed by local artisan Michael Wilson, to the pre-mid-century-modern 1940’s chairs that graced a hotel in Chile, to the spectacular one of a kind floor lamp from Murano, to the simple window frame painted a vibrant red.

The expansive country kitchen, created from five small rooms, calls for preparation of large family meals at holiday time, and is filled with both the old and the fanciful. An over-sized colorful mobile, reminiscent of the infamous Cheshire cat of childhood stories, is suspended over the kitchen island; a beautiful antique gas light chandelier hangs above the breakfast table.

Walk on, there is more. The home is a marriage of disparate cultures and heritage, filled with treasures and art collected from around the world, that blend into a melting pot of the beautiful,unusual, unique, and rare. Positioned on a bedside table is a stone carving of a face, created by their son. In the hall adjoining the dining room hangs a campaign poster for John Palmer, John’s great-great-grandfather who ran for Secretary of State in New York in 1894.

The family room boasts a life-sized reproduction of a forbidding terracotta soldier from the armies of Qin ShiHuang in China, whimsically softened with a wedding veil and the wedding bouquets of two of their children. A glass sculpture that speaks of leaping flames from white fire sits quietly in a nook in the dining room. This sculpture was given to Sue Ellen as a thank you by a young man they took into their hearts and home, because they care. As John Harcourt said, "He was a local kid who needed some security, respect and love."

At their core, caring is who they are; as part of their affiliation with the non-profit Strongheart Fellows Program, when the need arose, they turned the cottages, formerly part of a B&B on the ranch, into Strongheart House, a home and center of healing, learning, and excellence. Their mission is to shelter, teach and guide gifted and talented young people from the developing world, displaced or orphaned by war or other circumstance. Their ranch is a welcome and necessary shelter. Their home is an art museum. It’s a history museum. It is a house filled with color and light.It is warm, inviting, relaxing, energizing. It is the home of art lovers and humanitarians. It is Old Oaks Ranch.

» Return to Home Tour 2012

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Harcourt-Stavrand, King, McDonald, Nichols
Povey, Smith, Sturdivant