Join PH Programs Director Jim Parsons for an illustrated overview of the Bayou City's history, exploring the forces that have shaped its development and the stories of the some of the people who helped turn a swampy frontier village into one of America's largest cities.
Preservation Houston members are invited to a special lecture in partnership with the Texas Contemporary art fair on Saturday afternoon, October 12. Architectural historian Kathryn O'Rourke's talk, How Postmodernism Made It Possible to Love Houston, will focus on Houston's coming of age in the 1970s and '80s and how it coincided with the glory days of Postmodern architecture.
In this lecture, University of Houston assistant architecture professor Michael Kubo will compare two cases of research, advocacy and preservation of the modern built heritage in U.S. cities: the Brutalist buildings that transformed Boston in the 1960s and 1970s, and the modernist urban revitalization efforts in Pittsburgh during the same period.
William Dupont, San Antonio Conservation Society Endowed Professor at The University of Texas at San Antonio, will describe the work of the U.S. Technical Team collaborating since 2005 with Cuban colleagues to preserve Ernest Hemingway's legacy in Cuba. Among his topics will be past restoration efforts at Hemingway’s house and ongoing issues related to cultural resource management.
Join us for a special program Tuesday evening, October 16, as historians and early PH members Minnette Boesel, Barrie Scardino Bradley, Betty Chapman and Stephen Fox explore those and other topics from Preservation Houston’s four decades in a panel discussion moderated by PH Programs Director Jim Parsons. The panelists’ memories and insights, paired with images from Preservation Houston’s archives, tell the story of how preservation in Houston has matured since the late 1970s.
Houstonians Toya and Reuben Levi organized the Green Book Project to document African-Americans’ experiences traveling across the U.S. under Jim Crow through photos, interviews and documentation of existing sites listed in the Green Book. The Levis will discuss the history and legacy of the Green Book, as well as some of the Houston locations listed in the guide through the years, in this illustrated lecture.
In 2016, Houston firm METALAB won the international competition to redesign the iconic barges that carry millions of visitors along San Antonio’s Riverwalk. Join Preservation Houston the evening of Tuesday, June 27, as we welcome architect Joe Meppelink of METALAB, who will discuss the work that went into his group's winning design.
From the days of the Republic, German immigrants left a distinctive mark on the architecture and lifeways of Texas that is still evident today. In his award-winning book, Kenneth Hafertepe shares a decade of research examining how German culture was adapted to everyday life in rural, small-town and urban settings from East Texas to the Hill Country.
Architects Gerald Moorhead and Sandra Bauder will discuss their work restoring the 1931 Jefferson County Courthouse in Beaumont. Though most classic Texas courthouses date from the Victorian era, Jefferson County’s is an outstanding exception. Bonds were issued for the Art Deco skyscraper just weeks before the 1929 stock market crash and the building was completed during the Great Depression. Ornate modernistic fixtures decorate the interior, while classically inspired detailing distinguishes the exterior. Beaumont architects Fred C. Stone and A. Babin designed the courthouse.
