“I am large, I contain multitudes,” wrote Walt Whitman. He was talking about himself, but the words apply equally to the architecture of Texas. I have a substantial library on the subject — monographs, guidebooks, essay collections, scholarly studies, photographic compilations — and not one of those books might be considered definitive. Home, Heat, Money, God: Texas and Modern Architecture (University of Texas Press, $45) gets about as close as any. A chunky, colorful pleasure, it is the work of historian Kathryn E. O’Rourke, who provides the text, and the architect and critic Ben Koush, who supplies the photographs.
Like the state it chronicles, it is sprawling and somewhat unwieldy. The authors describe it as a “partial survey,” which seems about right. It is less a comprehensive history than a critical narrative, one that isolates the various forces that have shaped the state’s architecture from the 1920s to the present. The focus is on those suggested by its wonderful title: the meanings of home, the challenges of climate and the pressures of money and religion. But these are hardly its only themes; an alternate title might have been “Hubris, Highways, Segregation and Demolition.”
“Relentless ambition, a forward-looking attitude, and a strong sense of place combined to make Texans particularly receptive to modern architecture’s implication of newness, its future-oriented image, and its capacity to reinterpret historical forms in novel ways,” O’Rourke writes. “Modern buildings were used repeatedly as signs and symbols of cosmopolitanism and of Texan readiness to take a starring role in any number of dramas.”
Cover, “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(UT Press / UT Press)
O’Rourke’s text, which is thorough and clear-eyed if a bit dry, is buoyed throughout by Koush’s photographs, which balance the clinical perfectionism of a trained architect with a rich sense of humanity.
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From Amarillo to Wharton, the authors have traveled across the state, documenting works of all scales and typologies, from grand civic projects to humble roadside attractions.
The book includes more than 20 projects in Dallas, ranging from the moderne icons of Fair Park to the golden neo-modernism of the Campbell Centre. Many of the projects examined here will be familiar, but what makes the book so enjoyable (and an essential component of its argument) are those that are less so. Koush and O’Rourke have an admirable taste not just for the state’s conventionally “important” architecture but also for the vernacular and idiosyncratic.
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Rosenwald School, West Columbia, 1921
Rosenwald School, West Columbia, Texas, 1921. Photo by Ben Koush from the “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(Ben Koush / UT Press)
The book begins with the juxtaposition of two schools from the inter-war period; the sprawling Lamar High School, in Houston’s upscale and then race-restricted River Oaks, and this rural Rosenwald School, one of more than 5,000 schools for Black children built in the South and funded in large part by the Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald. “Seen together,” O’Rourke writes, the two schools “lay bare the ways architecture operates within, as well as reflects and often sustains, social and economic structures.”
Kraigher House, Brownsville, 1937
Kraigher House, Richard Neutra architect, Brownsville, 1937. Photo by Ben Koush from the “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(Ben Koush / UT Press)
Among the state’s earliest modern houses, and among the first designed by a name-brand European-born modern architect, the Kraigher House was built by Richard Neutra in Brownsville, not normally considered a hotbed of avant-garde design. With its unadorned planar geometry, it is a rare example of the International Style in Texas.
Tee Pee Motel, Wharton, 1947
Tee Pee Motel, George and Toppie Belcher designers, Wharton. Photo by Ben Koush from the “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(Ben Koush / UT Press)
The authors’ interest in vernacular building is illustrated by this roadside icon of 11 concrete structures modeled on American Indian shelters. The Tee Pee Motel, O’Rourke writes, “typified romantic fascination with indigenous culture on the part of white entrepreneurs.”
The Tap Lounge and Restaurant, El Paso, 1956
The Tap Lounge and Restaurant, El Paso, 1956. Photo by Ben Koush from “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(Ben Koush / UT Press)
“A case study in the power of neon” this El Paso dive is a joyful exemplar of mid-century Texas commercial architecture.
Cigarroa Medical Building, Laredo, 1960
Cigarroa Medical Building, Max E. Burkhart Jr. architect, Laredo, 1960. Photo by Ben Koush from “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(Ben Koush / UT Press)
In the midcentury, Texas architects developed all manner of sun screens, or brises-soleil, as a means of heat mitigation. This distinctive example, with purple tiles on an undulating wall of parabolic arches, was designed by McAllen-based architect Max E. Burkhart Jr.
Zion Lutheran Church, Abilene, 1963
Zion Lutheran Church, Shelton Associates architects, Abilene, 1963. Photo by Ben Koush from “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(Ben Koush / UT Press)
Triangular forms became a staple of ecclesiastical Texas architecture in the 1960s. Outside, the bold geometry commanded attention; inside, the angled shapes suggested the heaven-pointing architecture of Gothic cathedrals. This example, now the Galilee Baptist Church, is a dramatic telescoping A-frame.
Dallas Trade Mart, 1959
Dallas Trade Mart, Harwell Hamilton Harris and Harold Berry, architects, 1959. Photo by Ben Koush from “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(Ben Koush / UT Press)
Banal on the outside, from within the Dallas Trade Mart is a sky-lit wonder of catwalks and open-air arcades and courts. Built as a wholesale marketing center for developer Trammell Crow by the architects Harwell Hamilton Harris and Harold A. Berry, it “anticipated the new generation of air-conditioned shopping malls just being introduced in Texan suburbs in the early 1960s.”
Martin Luther King Jr. Humanities Center, Houston, 1969
Martin Luther King Jr. Humanities Center, Texas Southern University, John S. Chase architect, Houston, 1969. Foreground, “African Queen Mother,” by Carroll Simms, 1968. Photo by Ben Koush from the “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(Ben Koush / UT Press)
The King Humanities Center at Texas Southern University, defined by its swooping, semi-circular front portico, was the work of John S. Chase, the first African American man to receive an architectural degree from the University of Texas and the first to become a registered architect in the state.
Carnegie Branch Library, Houston, 1982
Carnegie Branch Library, Ray Bailey Architects, Houston, 1982. Photo by Ben Koush from “Home Heat Money God” (UT Press, 2024).(Ben Koush / UT Press)
This elegant and technically sophisticated high-modern library, designed by Ray Bailey Architects, features glazed walls and an exposed structural truss system, recalling earlier Houston works by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson.
Taylor Sheridan’s latest show will begin filming this week in Fort Worth.
It’s been a few weeks since word broke on Sheridan’s forthcoming Frisco King series for Paramount+. The previous iteration of the show was to be filmed and set in New Orleans, but it will now have a production home in North Texas.
Frisco King will star Samuel L. Jackson as Russell Lee Washington Jr., a hitman who crossed paths with Sylvester Stallone’s Tulsa King character Dwight Manfredi. Jackson appeared in the final two episodes of the show’s third season last year.
Filming will get underway in downtown Fort Worth at the Tarrant County Courthouse on Friday, March 20. Due to filming, several road closures will be in place around the area.
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‘Frisco King’ begins filming in Fort Worth
Frisco King will film interior and exterior shots at the courthouse Friday, according to a city street use permit.
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The permit includes several closures from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, and Friday:
Two lane closure on Weatherford Street between Houston and Commerce streets
Sidewalk closure on Weatherford Street between Houston and Commerce streets
One lane closure on East Weatherford Street between Main and Commerce streets
One lane closure on East Weatherford Street between Commerce and Calhoun streets
One lane closure on North Houston Street between West Belknap and West Weatherford streets
One lane closure on West Belknap Street between Throckmorton and North Houston streets
Two lane closure on West Belknap Street between North Houston and Commerce streets
Two lane closure on Main Street between East Weatherford and West Weatherford streets
Fort Worth police will be on-site to facilitate traffic and all local residents/businesses will have access to their properties at all times, per the permit. Once filming wraps, traffic operations will return to normal.
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More on ‘Frisco King’
Frisco King will be eight episodes and Sheridan is writing all of them himself.
In addition to Jackson, Frisco King will star Kai Caster, Asa Germann, Lilah Pate and Savanna Gann.
Sheridan, Jackson and Stallone will executive produce the show. Additional producers include Ron Burkle, David Hutkin, Bob Yari, Christina Alexandra Voros, Michael Friedman, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Keith Cox and 101 Studios CEO David Glasser.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Carson Tinney hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, but that was all the offense No. 2 Texas got in a 6-1 loss to Tarleton State on Tuesday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Tinney’s blast was his sixth of the season and was the only hit by a Longhorn in the starting lineup. Josh Livingston picked up a pinch-hit single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
SAN MARCOS, TX – March 10: Texas Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle watches action during game between the Texas Longhorns and the Texas State Bobcats on March 10, 2026 at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos, TX. (Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Longhorns dual-sport athlete Jonah Williams out for remainder of baseball season
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Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle was frank in his postgame comments.
“In every way, we got our rear ends kicked,” he said. “They (Tarleton State) threw more strikes, they made plays and they had competitive at-bats. There were some good things for us, but we had one hit in the first and one in the ninth. You’re not going to win many games that way. Tarleton beat us in every phase of the game.”
March Madness: Mark’s clutch jumper sends Texas past NC State 68-66 in First Four
It was a historic win for the Texans, marking the highest-ranked win in school history and the third win ever over a Power Four conference program. Two of the three wins have been this season — Tarleton beat Baylor 6-5 on March 3 in Stephenville. The Texans are now 5-0 in true road games and 13-7 overall.
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The Longhorns drew nine walks, but struck out 12 times and stranded nine runners. The Texans cashed in their opportunities, hitting .444 with runners in scoring position.
Texas (18-2, 2-1 SEC) heads to No. 5 Auburn for an SEC series beginning Friday.
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Harris County commissioners will vote Thursday on whether to formalize a process allowing labor organizations to advocate for higher salaries and discuss workplace policies and grievances for county employees.
If passed, the policy would be the first of its kind for a Texas county. Some Texas cities and school districts have adopted similar policies, including the city of Austin and Houston’s school district — represented respectively by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the Houston Federation of Teachers.
It would allow county employees to be represented by a labor union of their choosing, but would give county commissioners the final say over all personnel policies and salaries.
Nearly 20,000 people work for the county, making it the sixth-biggest employer in Harris last year.
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“It gives them a voice to advocate for good jobs, wages and benefits, working conditions and other needs so that they can enjoy life and dignity,” said Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who proposed the policy to the five-member commissioners court, which includes County Judge Lina Hidalgo.
State law prohibits public employees from collectively bargaining for contracts or going on strike, but does not keep them from being represented by labor organizations. Ellis said his proposal creates a communication process for a labor organization to discuss such issues with county representatives.
“This policy just gives workers a true voice, a real seat at the table,” he said.
Local police and firefighter departments in Texas are allowed to unionize and collectively bargain. Both departments in Houston have recently celebrated big wins: The Houston Police Officers’ Union last year secured a nearly 37% salary increase for police officers, and a year before, the Houston Fire Department negotiated a $1.5 billion settlement and labor contract for firefighters.
County employees would not be required to join the labor organization, but those who do would vote on which association would represent them. An association would need at least 50% of employee support to be chosen outright. If none receive half the vote, associations receiving at least 20% of employee votes would advance to a runoff.
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Harris County, with nearly 5 million residents, is the third most populous county in the country, and Ellis said he hopes other Texas counties will adopt similar policies.
“Harris County workers keep the county running,” said Ellis, whose precinct includes both of Houston’s airports, along with several sports stadiums and universities. “They fix the roads, keep our parks clean and safe. They respond during emergencies. They make sure government works. They are the essential cog that keeps the third-largest county in the country operating.”
Commissioner Lesley Briones said she plans to vote in favor of the policy.
“It is a win for our employees and for our community,” Briones said. “By empowering workers’ voices and creating a pathway for employee-centered input, we build trust, strengthen our organization, and deliver better results for the Harris County families we serve.”
Ellis said if commissioners approve the initiative, among the first concerns he expects employees to bring up include salaries and the county’s remote working policy, which currently allows employees to work outside of the office but does not guarantee the option.
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Ellis said he’s hopeful he will have the support of the rest of the commissioners court, but Commissioner Tom Ramsey told Fox 26 last week that he’s skeptical of the idea.
“We have many issues to focus on in Harris County, we don’t need the distraction of trying to set up a union,” said Ramsey, the court’s lone Republican.
Ellis reiterated that his proposal doesn’t establish a union.
“It professionalizes employees’ (process) to have to be informed of their ability to receive representation before grievance disciplinary meetings,” he said. “This does not allow for collective bargaining.”
