Please note that advance registration is required for this online program. Scroll down or click here to register.
Join Preservation Houston and author and architectural historian Barrie Scardino Bradley on Tuesday evening, May 4, for an online History in Print program featuring Bradley’s award-winning book Improbable Metropolis: Houston’s Architectural and Urban History.
As Houston has grown from a frontier town into a dynamic metropolis, its architecture has been inconsistent, often predictable, sometimes bizarre, and occasionally extraordinary. Industries from cotton, lumber, sugar, and rail and water transportation to petroleum, healthcare, biomedical research and aerospace have each in turn brought profit and attention to the city. Each created an associated building boom, expanding the city’s architectural sophistication, its footprint and its cultural breadth. Improbable Metropolis is the most comprehensive look at the history of Houston’s built environment, telling the story of local design and urban planning with an engaging narrative and nearly 350 illustrations including historic and current photos, drawings, plans and maps. Bradley received a 2021 Good Brick Award from Preservation Houston for the book, which represents a decade of research and writing.
A Q&A with the speaker will follow the presentation.
Images: (in banner) Carnegie Library (1904, J.R. Gordon) / Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library; (above) book cover courtesy of University of Texas Press
About the speaker
Barrie Scardino Bradley has been writing and lecturing about Houston history and Texas architecture for more than 35 years. She has served as the editor of Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston; a research associate in the Rice University School of Architecture; the president of Greater Houston Preservation Alliance; the executive director of the Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects; and the architectural archivist of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center at the Houston Public Library. She is the author of Houston’s Hermann Park: A Century of Community, co-author of Houston’s Forgotten Heritage: Landscapes, Houses, Interiors, 1824-1914, and co-editor of Ephemeral City: Cite Looks at Houston and Making Houston Modern: The Life and Architecture of Howard Barnstone.
Event format
This program will be presented via Zoom. Registrants will receive additional information, including a link to join the program, no later than the morning of May 4.
Registration and pricing
Access to this program is free for members of Preservation Houston and Pier & Beam. Registration is $10 for non-members. Register online now:
Can’t join us live? No problem
We will make a recording of the full program available to all registrants, so you can watch at a time that’s most convenient for you.
This event is presented as part of the Bart Truxillo Program Series, which honors the memory of pioneer preservationist and Preservation Houston co-founder Bart Truxillo. The Truxillo Program Series is made possible by the generous contributions of Preservation Houston's members and friends. If you would like to support future programming, please consider adding a donation to your registration or becoming a PH member.