Making Houston Modern
The Life and Architecture of Howard Barnstone
Stephen Fox editor Michelangelo Sabatino editor Barrie Scardino Bradley editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:University of Texas Press
Published:4th Aug '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Complex, controversial, and prolific, Howard Barnstone was a central figure in the world of twentieth-century modern architecture. Recognized as Houston’s foremost modern architect in the 1950s, Barnstone came to prominence for his designs with partner Preston M. Bolton, which transposed the rigorous and austere architectural practices of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to the hot, steamy coastal plain of Texas. Barnstone was a man of contradictions—charming and witty but also self-centered, caustic, and abusive—who shaped new settings that were imbued, at once, with spatial calm and emotional intensity.
Making Houston Modern explores the provocative architect’s life and work, not only through the lens of his architectural practice but also by delving into his personal life, class identity, and connections to the artists, critics, collectors, and museum directors who forged Houston’s distinctive culture in the postwar era. Edited by three renowned voices in the architecture world, this volume situates Barnstone within the contexts of American architecture, modernism, and Jewish culture to unravel the legacy of a charismatic personality whose imaginative work as an architect, author, teacher, and civic commentator helped redefine architecture in Texas.
The story of this man, and his work, little known outside of Texas, fills this Texas-sized tome with a rich history of 20th-century architecture and its patronage, the complex personal struggles of an “outsider” architect and individual, and stunning archival photography of the inventive buildings and interiors he designed. Those designs, so rooted in their time and place but with universal appeal, deserve, at long last, a larger audience. * Architectural Record *
[Making Houston Modern] contains an extremely valuable catalogue raisonné of [Howard Barnstone's] works as well as a frank portrayal of his bipolar condition. * Austin American Statesman *
This volume devotes attention to all sides of a person in a way that few architectural monographs achieve...Making Houston Modern makes the case that [Barnstone's] legacy also resides in the culture he proliferated, both social and architectural. * Cite Magazine *
Barnstone was, like the southern state, a ‘lone star’: the reserved kind, popular in his day but whose works were inexplicably left out of the canon of Houston’s modernity. This book seeks to remedy the oversight...Elitist, sophisticated, and irreverent, Barnstone was free verse, with no particular style but a discreet charm over a bourgeoisie, who contributed decisively to the modernity of a city. * Arquitectura Viva *
In Houston, Barnstone’s otherness—his New England roots, Jewish heritage, bipolarity, bisexuality—placed him at odds with the prevailing culture, despite his best efforts. This tension fueled his intensity and formed a man who was “complex, complicated, and prolific." Making Houston Modern makes this clear in its thorough appreciation of Barnstone’s life...Today, Barnstone’s architecture, depleted through demolitions, alterations, or neglect, seems compromised at best. [The authors] make the case that his legacy also resides in the culture he proliferated, both social and architectural. * Rice Design Alliance *
[Making Houston Modern's] focus on the social and urban changes that facilitated modernist development is one of the book’s overall strengths...The book succeeds in illuminating Barnstone’s milieu, and offers important insights into his architecture. * Texas Architect *
ISBN: 9781477320556
Dimensions: 248mm x 203mm x 38mm
Weight: 1533g
400 pages