Texas
These 10 buildings define Texas architecture
“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.”
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.
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.
A few samples follow.
Rosenwald School, West Columbia, 1921
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
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
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
“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
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
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
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
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
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.
COLLIN COUNTY, Texas – Texas announced that they are filing a lawsuit against Snap, Inc., the parent company of the popular social media company Snapchat.
Snap, Inc. allegedly violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act (DTPA) by failing to adequately warn parents and consumers about exposure to inappropriate material and the app’s addictive design. The state says the company misrepresents its safety for young users, placing children at risk of harm.
Allegations of “addictive” app design, mature content
FILE – Snapchat logo displayed on a phone screen. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
What we know:
The lawsuit filed on Wednesday alleges that the creators of Snapchat knowingly misrepresented the app’s safety to parents and consumers by promoting it as safe for children and with “12+” age ratings on app stores.
This was done, the state says, “while simultaneously frequently exposing users to dangerous and mature content,” citing profanity, sexual content, nudity and drug use in the news release.
The lawsuit specifically cites multiple other features of the app, including Snapstreaks, Snapscore, Snap Map, Infinite Scroll, My AI Chatbot, expiring messages and more as incentives to use the app daily and cause harm to young children due to the “addictive” nature of the features.
Texas SCOPE Act violations
What they’re saying:
In the lawsuit, the state mentions three separate sections of the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act that are being violated by Snap, Inc.
- Section 509.101: Failure to use a commercially reasonable method for a parent or guardian to verify their identity
- Section 509.052: Unlawfully sharing, disclosing and selling known minors’ personal identifying information
- Section 509.054: Failing to provide parental tools for the accounts of known minors.
In this photo illustration a Snapchat logo seen displayed on a smartphone screen in Athens, Greece on May 16, 2022. (Photo illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In the news release announcing the lawsuit, the Texas Attorney General states that this lawsuit will hold the social media company accountable.
“I will not allow Snapchat to harm our kids by running a business designed to get Texas children addicted to a platform filled with obscene and destructive content,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Parents have a fundamental right to know the dangers of the apps their kids are using and not be lied to by Big Tech companies. This lawsuit will hold Snapchat accountable for illegally undermining parental rights, deceiving consumers, and for putting children in danger.”
Crackdown on Big Tech
The backstory:
The Texas Attorney General’s Office mentions that this lawsuit follows legal action that was taken in Dec. 2024 against several other social media companies, including TikTok, Roblox, Reddit, Instagram and Discord.
Texas similarly launched investigations into these companies regarding their privacy and safety practices for minors, citing the SCOPE Act and the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA). The protection of these laws extends to how minors interact with AI products.
FILE- social media, Twitter, TikTok, WhatApp, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, Facebook, Messenger and Telegram displayed on the screen of a smartphone.(Chesnot/Getty Images)
The SCOPE Act and TDSA explained
Dig deeper:
The SCOPE Act prohibits digital service providers from sharing, disclosing, or selling a minor’s personal identifying information without permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian. The SCOPE Act also requires companies to provide parents with tools to manage and control the privacy settings on their child’s account.
The TDPSA imposes strict notice and consent requirements on companies that collect and use minors’ personal data.
Potential penalties
What’s next:
Texas is seeking civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, along with a permanent injunction that could require Snapchat to change how it markets and rates the app, disclose what the state describes as “addictive” design features, strengthen parental verification and oversight tools and comply with the SCOPE Act’s protections for minors.
A jury trial has been requested in Collin County district court.
The Source: Information in this article was provided by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Additional information was provided from public documents filed in Collin County.
EL PASO, Texas — The Federal Aviation Administration is closing the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days, grounding all flights to and from the airport.
A notice posted on the FAA’s website said the temporary flight restrictions were for “special security reasons,” but did not provide additional details. The closure does not include Mexican airspace.
The airport said in an Instagram post that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded from late Tuesday through late on Feb. 20, including commercial, cargo and general aviation flights. It suggested travelers contact their airlines to get up-to-date flight information.
The shutdown is likely to create significant disruptions given the duration and the size of the metropolitan area. El Paso, a border city with a population of nearly 700,000 and larger when you include the surrounding metro area, is hub of cross-border commerce alongside neighboring Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
The airport describes itself as the gateway to west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Southwest, United, American and Delta all operate flights there, among others.
The Dallas Open has taken over Frisco this week, a far cry from its inaugural tournament at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex at SMU just four years ago.
Now, the Star – best known as the Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters – has become the epicenter of tennis in North Texas.
A tournament born from a meeting
One of the masterminds behind the inception of the tournament is SMU men’s tennis coach Grant Chen.
The event came about after a scheduled 30‑minute meeting between Chen and several other organizers turned into a three‑hour conversation that ultimately led to what the Dallas Open is today.
“It’s been a remarkable ride,” Chen said. “It’s almost like a movie. This all started with a lunch on December 17th, 2020. To see it six years later to come to this….it’s so great for the DFW, it’s great for the metroplex, it’s great for sports and it’s great for Tennis.”
Participation and interest on the rise
The growth can be seen not just in the venue, but in the sport itself.
Tennis has seen a boom in participation over the last five years, according to statistics from the U.S. Tennis Association.
As of Feb. 2, 2026, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas and Baylor are all ranked in the ITA Top 25 in collegiate tennis.
American stars fueling momentum
This year’s tournament has no shortage of American talent.
Players like Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton are headliners in this year’s Dallas Open, and having these players front and center has helped the sport evolve in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.
“If you look at UIL and high school tennis, that’s been taking off,” Chen said. “You look at college tennis, Texas has some of the top collegiate teams in the country between TCU, Baylor, SMU, UT, A&M, Rice, you name it.”
Looking ahead to future growth
So where does the tournament go from here?
Chen says he’s looking to keep growing the event, but for now, he’s just like the fans who come to the Dallas Open — excited to watch the best of the best take the stage.
“Like they say, everything is bigger in Texas,” Chen said. “How do we make it bigger, better, stronger, faster for 2027. But for right now, the ’26 event is going on, the lineup the next couple of days is unreal.”
Arkansas State University will get $2.1 million in federal funds for steel research | Arkansas Democrat Gazette
What was attendance for Syracuse basketball vs. California?
New data shows hail — not wildfire — is driving Colorado’s high insurance rates
Janel Grant To Speak At Survivor Advocacy Event In WWE’s Home State Of Connecticut – Wrestling Inc.
2 hospitalized after shooting in Delaware County on Wednesday, police say
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Video: F.A.A. Said to Have Closed El Paso Airspace Over Military’s Use of Anti-Drone Technology
Only one House Dem voted in favor of voter ID, proof of citizenship in US elections
Who decides who belongs in Europe? The migration debate returns
‘You’re a washed-up loser lawyer’: Pam Bondi taunts Democrats over Epstein
Video: Will Trump’s Order on Housing Help?
-
Politics6 days agoWhite House says murder rate plummeted to lowest level since 1900 under Trump administration
-
Alabama5 days agoGeneva’s Kiera Howell, 16, auditions for ‘American Idol’ season 24
-
Indiana1 week ago13-year-old boy dies in BMX accident, officials, Steel Wheels BMX says
-
Politics1 week agoTrump unveils new rendering of sprawling White House ballroom project
-
Culture1 week agoTry This Quiz on Mysteries Set in American Small Towns
-
San Francisco, CA1 week agoExclusive | Super Bowl 2026: Guide to the hottest events, concerts and parties happening in San Francisco
-
Ohio7 days agoOhio town launching treasure hunt for $10K worth of gold, jewelry
-
Education1 week agoVideo: We Tested Shark’s Viral Facial Device