Print

---

As we’ve heard from Gregg and Margaret in their personal “Reflections,” much of what is most endearing about Houston lies in the realm of the everyday—block by block between work and home, with one’s neighbors, and in the rhythm of life on the Gulf Coast.  That’s made possible to a large extent, I’d say, by the ease of getting around, the comfortable logic of the tree-lined streets, and the defining character of each neighborhood.  While those deeper, longer experiences of Houston won’t be available to us in our scrambling from panel to meeting to reception, I would recommend the following favorite glimpses into some less-know places in town.  In themselves, they represent more the everyday than the three star, publicized attractions of the city’s cultural mainstay.  (See Mark and Jon’s Houston Preview #5.)  Shared with a colleague, they’re bound to seal the memories of your conference. 

The Live Oaks Friends Quaker Meeting House.  If we had to pick enclosed space, I would this Houston’s top  attraction, edged out possibly by the Rothko Chapel.  If you can make a viewing of the James Turrell installation, open at twilight on Fridays, I can almost promise a subtle, but breathtaking experience.  More to come on this.

On the way there, a slow drive through the streets of The Heights will reveal the quiet, comfortable, neighborly character of a turn-of-the-century middle class quarter, where real estate is now much in demand.  The Heights is also home of the ArtCar Museum, which will win the hearts and smiles of the even the most serious classically-minded art lovers.

On the other side of the tracks—literally—troll through the River Oaks section of town, to see what dizzying heights of architectural expression money can buy.  River Oaks was founded by the Hogg Family around a country club, and here, among the elaborate landscaping and sweeping boulevards, you will find the American decorative arts collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, at Bayou Bend.

In between these two neighborhoods is the West End, where you can visit find the stellar Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery.  The art is world class, and perfectly displayed, in an simple, elegant wooden space surrounded by gardens.  A little further west, look for the new metal houses among the modest frame cottages.  Cameron Armstrong is one of the architects putting up these practical, eye-opening dwellings.  Through his built work and written word (http://www.cameronarmstrong.com) Cameron will test your notion of “vernacular” architecture.

Across the street from the venerable Museum of Fine Arts Houston, look for the metal exterior walls and exciting exhibitions inside the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.  The CAMH is strictly a Kunsthalle, with thoughtfully assembled and documented work by living artists.  Here too, is a space one experiences with the lungs as much as the eyes. 

At the periphery of the city are the refineries and chemical processing plants that put and keep Houston on the map.  You can schedule a tour of the turning basin, to view the harbor up close.  From the bridge over the ship channel (the canal that connects Houston to the Gulf of Mexico), drivers behold an unimaginable stretch of industrial might.  At night this is most amazing, with flares torching above a thousand cracking towers and smokestacks.  Eerie, and frightening, but it’s where your gasoline, your plastic, and your household solvents begin their lives.

Less famous than the big institutions, but only in Houston, look for the Funeral Museum, the Museum of Printing History, a fireman’s’ memorabilia museum, the Orange Show, the Beer Can House, and Howard Hughes’ burial site.  Freedman’s Town is an area just west of downtown built by former slaves, on land reclaimed by the bucketful after 1865.  The nearby Project Row houses also retain the character of ways of life disappearing amid the gentrification of most of Houston.

Houston is famously (and infamously) abundant in water.  The city’s fountains will refresh all your senses: look for them at the Williams Tower near the Galleria Mall, the Tranquility Fountain downtown, and at the Houston Medical Center.

A day’s shared car rental, or participation in one of the Conference tours, will surely bring you to some or all of these places.  Review the tour list at http://www.arlis-txmx.org/arlisna2005/programSearchResults.php?programSearchType=category&cat_id=8&showDetails=yes .

 - John Hagood

(Sixth in a series of occasional Previews of Houston, from the ARLIS/NA 2005 Conference Committee)