about

The Brite House in Marfa, Texas was established in 1917 by Lucas Charles Brite and his wife, Eddie. Lucas Brite was a pioneer Big Bend rancher, arriving in 1885 and camping on Capote Peak while he founded a ranch, which is still in the family. They lived on the ranch until 1902, when they moved to Marfa and purchased a one-story, L-shaped house from Eddie’s uncle, Robert Edward McMinn. In 1915 the Brites remodel the small 1800’s McMinn adobe into a 16-room mansion overlooking an expansive pasture. Lucas Brite’s great-great grandson, Leo Villareal III acquired the house from the Brite Family Trust in 2014 and he and his wife, Yvonne Force Villareal, began a restoration by engaging architect Louis Yoh and interior designer Fernando Santangelo to bring to fruition their idea of remaining a family home while becoming an artistically stimulating space they could share with creative visionaries from around the world.