In Lost, Texas: Photographs of Forgotten Buildings, architect and architectural photographer Bronson Dorsey takes us on a tour of abandoned buildings in Texas that evoke the mystique of bygone days and shifting population patterns. With a skilled photographer’s eye, he captures the character of these buildings — most abandoned and in a state of decay, though a handful have been repurposed as museums, residences or other functional structures.
Encompassing all regions of the state, from the Piney Woods to the Panhandle, the images in Lost, Texas evoke distinctive memories of the past. They grant a sense of how those who preceded us lived and how the Texas of earlier days became the Texas of today. Some of the historic sites include a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Beeville, a lumberyard built over two generations, a beautiful, mission-style schoolhouse raised in a small farming community, the skeleton of a boomtown gas station near the Yates oilfield and what remains of the only silver mining operation in Texas. As he presents these sites in striking images, Dorsey quietly makes the case for preserving buildings that, while no longer central to the ongoing function of their communities, still serve as important emblems of the past.
Dorsey will be signing his book after his presentation. Lost, Texas will be available for purchase for $40 at the event.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the program will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Proler Chapel at Congregation Emanu El, 1500 Sunset Boulevard.
Admission to History in Print is free for Preservation Houston members and members of Congregation Emanu El. Admission is $5 per person for the general public.
Free parking is available in the garage located behind the synagogue (enter from Sunset Boulevard). Congregation Emanu El is also a short walk from the Hermann Park/Rice University station on MetroRail's Red Line.
If you have any questions, please e-mail or call (713) 510-3990.
History in Print is part of the Bart Truxillo Program Series, which honors the memory of pioneer preservationist and Preservation Houston co-founder Bart Truxillo. The Bart Truxillo Program Series is made possible by the generous contributions of Preservation Houston's members and friends.
History in Print is sponsored in part by Reliant,
an NRG company.