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.
NORTH TEXAS – This week’s snow event will end with a “few flurries” during Friday’s morning commute, according to CBS News Texas meteorologist Jeff Ray.
“But roads will have frozen over,” Ray said.
Expect hazardous road conditions in the morning, as it will be “the worst” the roads have been since the event started on Thursday morning, Ray said.
Late in the morning, temperatures will rise above freezing, which will “help drivers get around the Metroplex,” Ray said.
A cold front is expected Friday, he said.
“We are going to have wind chills in the 20s all day,” Ray said. “By nightfall on Friday, temperatures will drop quickly and water will re-freeze on the roads across the evening. This ice will remain until mid-morning on Saturday before the sun and warmer temperatures in the mid-40s clear the roadways.”
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South Carolina women’s basketball hosts its SEC home opener against Texas A&M on Thursday evening. Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.
1. Missing Ashlyn
South Carolina announced on Tuesday that junior forward Ashlyn Watkins will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Staley let Watkins tell the team about her injury, and then the coaches have tried to push forward.
“We just keep it moving, try not to harp on it too much because it’s felt,” Staley said. “The more you move on, the more they move on – and our players have to move on. It’s a part of it.”
I broke down how South Carolina will try to replace Watkins here.
Staley said, “Only time will tell” the impact of Watkins’ absence, but it is definitely an opportunity for Maryam Dauda, Adhel Tac, and Sakima Walker to step into a new role.
“Sometimes, when you remove someone as big as Ashlyn from your equation, other people have an opportunity,” Staley said. “And what they do with that opportunity, usually, they do something pretty good with it. We’ll work with them, and we’ll be patient with them.”
2. Spurtability
South Carolina’s strengths this season have been its bench and its transition game. In the first two SEC games, South Carolina pulled away with the second unit on the court getting stops and getting out in transition.
Watkins, with her ability to rim run with or without the ball, was a huge part of that. Her absence isn’t going to stop the Gamecocks from running, especially at home. Even without Watkins, the Gamecocks had 15 fast break points on Sunday.
That quick-strike ability has Texas A&M coach Jni Taylor worried.
“We have a saying around here that says, ‘before you know it,’” Taylor said. “If you keep doing the right thing, keep putting your head down, keep grinding, you look up and before you know it, you’ll be where you’re supposed to be. Likewise, if you don’t come out ready, if you are pouting, if you are feeling sorry for yourself, before you know it, you won’t be where you’re supposed to be. That’s one of those things at South Carolina. They’re a really good team. They play really well at home. We will be, flashback of last year here, we’ll be down 15 to zero before we can bat an eye if we don’t come out ready to go.”
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3. (Dress rehearsal)
Nobody is going to say it out loud, but Thursday’s game is an important tune-up for the Sunday showdown against no. 5 Texas.
Is Tac ready to battle Kyla Oldacre? Can Dauda’s shooting pull Oldacre away from the paint? Is there enough rim protection to keep Rori Harmon from getting easy layups, or do they need to get creative? Who should guard Madison Booker?
It’s a familiar refrain in these parts. Get the game in hand early so you have the fourth quarter to look at some different lineups.
“We let our players play through some stuff, and then you’ve got to look at the scoreboard,” Staley said. “If we’re holding serve on the scoreboard, and we’re up, more lenient to leave them out there to give them some minutes. But, if the scoreboard moves in an unfavorable way, then you got to get combinations out there that’s going to move it the opposite way.”
Texas hosts no. 18 Alabama on Thursday night, so the Longhorns can’t afford to look ahead. But we can.
[USC-Texas WBB: Win tickets, parking]
4. Availability report
Maddy McDaniel and Sakima Walker were both listed as OUT on the Wednesday evening Availability Report.
McDaniel has not played since the holiday break after suffering a concussion. Walker has not played since the Iowa State game and hasn’t been available since the TCU game with an ankle injury. Both have started participating in practice this week but obviously are not yet full-speed.
Vanessa Saidu is listed as OUT for Texas A&M. She has yet to play this season. Amirah Abdur-Rahim is listed as questionable.
Side note: Because Watkins has been declared out for the season, she is not included on the availability report.
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5. Scouting the Aggies
The Aggies are one of the three SEC teams that haven’t reached 10 wins yet. There are a lot of good players on the roster – anyone in the country would take Lauren Ware, Sahara Jones, and Janae Kent – plus a great scorer in Aicha Coulibaly, but the sum of the parts hasn’t been quite where it needs to be.
However, Texas A&M is coming off an upset of then-25th-ranked Ole Miss on Sunday. The win was a 60-58 rock fight in which Ole Miss shot 0-12 in the fourth quarter, but that fits Joni Taylor’s defensive mindset.
‘I think that we’ve been able to show really good spurts defensively of how we can impact the game,” Taylor said. “To hold Ole Miss or any team, for that matter, without a field goal in the fourth quarter is really impressive, and I think it just shows, again, what we are capable of.”
Coulibaly has been a thorn in the Gamecocks’ side before. She scored 32 points and grabbed six rebounds against the Gamecocks in the SEC tournament quarterfinals last season. Coulibaly had no problem getting to the basket and drawing fouls, going 13-15 from the line. And that was with Watkins and Kamilla Cardoso guarding the rim.
“Coulibaly is the one that we haven’t solved playing against her,” Staley said. “I do think they’re better. They’re playing more cohesive. They’ve got some bigs that do what bigs do. They have guards that are a year older, some transfers that have played in our league, so … formidable. And then, they’re coming off a big win against Ole Miss.”
Texas A&M freshman Taliyah Parker was a high school teammate of Tac’s at South Grand Prairie. Parker has appeared in all 14 games this season and averages 5.3 points and 2.4 rebounds.
The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (14-1, 2-0) vs Texas A&M (8-6, 1-1)
When: 5:00 EST, Thursday, January 9
Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC
Watch: ESPN2
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