This is the first in a series of postings by ARLIS
members with Houston associations in anticipation of the ARLIS/NA 2005
Annual Conference.
Houston
is a vibrant, crazy, fascinating, hodge-podge of a city. It is a “place of dreams,” as
photographer Geoff Winningham illustrates in his beautiful, clear-eyed book of
the same title. Throughout
Houston’s history, people have
brought their dreams and often made them real. The city’s architecture, cultural
riches, and international population will amaze you.
I have lived in
Houston for over 30 years, if you
include my time as a student at Rice
University. During that entire span, I have found it
an excellent place to live, but only in
the later years of my tenure has it become a great place to visit. The Arlis conference coincides with a
time when many facets of the city, like a new light rail system, are coming
together in a spectacular way. So
consider yourselves lucky and make those plans to venture into
Houston—a city unlike any other in
all of Texas.
Houston
first earned a gold star in my book back in 1969, when it was the only
Texas city to host Margot Fonteyn
and Rudolf Nureyev on their national tour with the Royal Ballet. I consider myself privileged to have
seen all five of their Houston
performances, and the glow of that experience probably reinforced my decision to
attend Rice and so begin my serious involvement with the city.
When I returned to
Houston in the mid-1970s, after
graduate school in New York City, it
was a relief to find a cultural scene that I could almost keep up with, after
having scrambled desperately to take advantage of New
York’s possibilities. Things have changed! I cannot begin to keep up with
Houston’s offerings any more – and I
could not even if I were in my 20s again!
The cultural promise in that late 1960s ballet visit has blossomed and
downright flourished beyond anyone’s control.
But
you cannot enjoy culture if you’re not properly nourished, and you will have no
trouble finding great food in Houston. Later
updates will provide more information, but I will confirm now that
Houston’s restaurants equal the
variety and quality of New
York’s, with the bonus of being
more affordable and providing a bit more space between tables. (Things are bigger in
Texas, after
all.)
Another attraction for those of
you from places with serious winters:
Houston is green—not ecologically,
but literally. The city’s location
in a subtropical zone and generous plantings of Live-Oak trees and
Saint Augustine grass ensure that
green is the dominant palette all year long.
Our conference website and
links can inform you about the tremendous wealth of visual arts, performing
arts, and architecture in the city. For a more personal perspective, here are
five of my favorite spaces in the city that are within a fifteen-minute walk or
a Metro train ride from the conference hotel.
1.
Gallery 221, in the
Museum Of Fine
Arts,
Houston,
Beck
Building. Paintings by Degas, Renoir, Cezanne,
Pissarro, and Vuillard, plus a tremendous view of the Museum District and
Downtown skyline.
2.
Houston Public Library’s Julia Ideson Building (500
McKinney), second floor atrium space
and Texas and Local History
Department. Built in 1926 and
designed by Ralph Adams Cram with Spanish Plateresque ornament, the
Julia
Ideson
Building’s interior provides a
marvelous space for research and contemplation. Original woodwork and furniture are
still in place, and Public Works Project murals from the 1930s adorn the
walls. (There is also a portrait of
Miss Ideson herself, the system’s first professional librarian and long-time
director, in a chic black evening dress.)
The library’s research collections are located in this building, and the
circulating collections are in the newer building next door.
3.
Rice
University’s
Academic Court, known
familiarly as “The Quadrangle.” An
allée of Live Oaks leads from the main gates to the monumental archway of Lovett
Hall, the entrance to the Academic
Court.
It is best viewed from the far end, standing with your back to the
Fondren Library, one of the less inspired buildings on the campus. The Court, Lovett Hall, and the
Physics
Building were designed by Cram,
Goodhue & Ferguson and built 1912-1914. Ralph Adams Cram developed a delightful
“Southern” eclectic style for these original buildings utilizing Byzantine,
Venetian, and northern Italian detail.
(For more information on the many outstanding buildings on the campus,
see Stephen Fox’s Rice University,
published by Princeton Architectural Press.)
4.
Banking Hall and Lobby of the former
Gulf
Building, now Chase Bank. (712 Main
Street)
Built in 1929, designed by Alfred C. Finn, Kenneth Franzheim, and J.E.R.
Carpenter, the three-story high banking hall with Art Deco detailing is a
magnificent, expansive space that makes me want to open an account every time I
go there. Benedict nickel ornament
abounds, along with polished Siena
travertine, richly patterned terrazzo, and murals by Vincent Maragliatti.
5.
The view from the east side of City Hall, where 80 years of
skyscraper architecture are spread before you. Sit on one of the benches and marvel at
some of the most influential skyscrapers of the 20th century,
including Philip Johnson’s Pennzoil Place and RepublicBank Center (now Bank of
America Center), while in the foreground you have the 1939 Hare &
Hare-designed Hermann Square. The
lobby of city hall also is well worth a visit. Built 1939; architect Joseph
Finger. (More information about
Houston’s spectacular modern
architecture can be found in Stephen Fox’s Houston Architectural Guide, and Stephen
will be leading two of our architecture tours.)
No place is perfect. The Northeast has long gray winters, and
Houston has its summers. Although Danny Deck in Larry McMurtry’s
All My Friends Are Going to Be
Strangers loved Houston’s “ . . . heat, her
dampness, her sumpy smells,” that is an acquired taste (or scent). But we are not inviting you here in
August. In case you have forgotten,
ARLIS is scheduled for April 1 through 6—a perfect time of the year to
visit. Come join us for an
outstanding conference in an exceptional city!
Books mentioned:
Winningham, Geoff. Place of Dreams: Houston, an American City.
Houston:
Rice
University Press, 1986.
Fox, Stephen. Houston Architectural Guide. 2nd ed.
Houston: American
Institute of
Architects/Houston Chapter and
Herring Press, 1999.
Fox, Stephen. Rice University. New
York: Princeton Architectural
Press, 2001.
McMurtry, Larry. All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers: a
Novel. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2002. (First published in
1972.)