Join Design Onscreen and Houston Mod Thursday, November 3rd at the Frame / Harper house

Meet the director and producer working on a documentary about Houston`s mid-century modern architecture and it`s preservation. November 3, 2011

Join Design Onscreen and Houston Mod Thurs, Nov 3 at the Frame/Harper house

When: Thursday, November 3, 6-8pm

Where:Frame/Harper house 403 Westminster Drive Houston, TX 77024

Host Committee Houston Mod Design Onscreen Frank Douglas, FAIA Stephen Fox William F. Stern, FAIA

Questions? Please email info@designonscreen.org

This may be your last opportunity to see the Frame house as its likely to soon be sold to a new owner.

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Reflections on Modernism - House Tour, October 8

Houston Mod announces a special house tour on Saturday, October 8, 2011 from 1PM to 5PM honoring three significant modern architects whose work had a significant impact on Houston’s postwar development. The houses on the tour pay tribute to these modern masters and reflect the different perspectives in which they worked.

Included in the tour will be private residences by Anderson Todd, a longtime Rice University professor and former Dean whose works have captured critical acclaim for their minimalist expression; John Zemanek, who has educated generations of Houston architects while Professor at the University of Houston; and Karl Kamrath, who worked in an organic modern style reflective of his interest in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The tour will provide participants with the rare opportunity to see the interiors and exteriors of these architecturally-significant private homes and to explore the rich and diverse architectural legacy of mid-century Houston

Photos courtesy Paul Hester.

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Modsters from across Texas are invited to convene in San Antonio on August 6th for a full day of touring and interaction.

Modsters from across Texas are invited to convene in San Antonio on August 6th for a full day of touring and interaction. Members from Mid Tex Mod, North Texas Mod and Houston Mod have been invited to attend. All three organizations are linked through DoCoMoMo US which is a 501(c)3 registered non-profit organization, a union of regional chapters that share its members’ knowledge of and enthusiasm for the Modern Movement, promote public interest in it through lectures and walking tours, and organize advocacy efforts to protect endangered sites and buildings. DoCoMoMo is an acronym for the Documentation and Conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the Modern Movement. The event will begin at 11:00 AM with a guided tour of the George Nelson exhibit currently on view at the McNay Art Museum. Nelson was a noted architect, writer, designer, and teacher whose ideas yielded numerous classics such as the family room in American interior design and furniture. This is the first comprehensive retrospective of Nelson’s work. Following lunch will be walking tours of the mid-century modern structures at the Trinity University campus and HemisFair `68 grounds plus neighborhood tours all with noted architectural historian Stephen Fox as our guide. Drive yourself (or carpool with a fellow mod-enthusiast), pay your own admission fee at McNay ($5.00) and for lunch at La Gloria/the Culinary Institute of America. Schedule and more details to follow. There is still time to join in. Please RSVP to info@houstonmod.org to check your membership status and to let us know the number in your party. We hope to see you in San Antonio!

Houston Chronicle on Frank Lloyd Wright`s Thaxton House

Lately, architecture fans have enjoyed the rare chance to ogle the only house in Houston designed by Frank Lloyd Wright — yes, the Frank Lloyd Wright, the world`s most famous 20th-century architect.

Since Thaxton House went on the market in November, realtors have opened the astonishing, long-private place to the media and groups such as Houston Mod in hopes of, as they say delicately, `finding the right buyer` - someone willing and able to drop $3.29 million to live in a landmark.

It`s a house well worth ogling, fascinating to anyone who`s even a little familiar with Wright: with Fallingwater, or the Guggenheim Museum, or even any of the novels inspired by the willful, stubborn genius. The Thaxton House, tucked away in Bunker Hill Village, may not be Wright`s most groundbreaking work, or his most beautiful. But it`s among the most Wright-ian of works in another way.

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10914 Willowisp Dr. Houston: Sunday, May 15, 2011 from 2 - 4pm

The May, 2011 Mod of the Month event on May 15 features a custom home designed for Sally Barnes and her family by one of Houston`s leading modern residential architects of the 1950s, William R. Jenkins. The house is special on its own, with terrazzo flooring, walls of glass looking out to a swimming pool, and 1950s touches throughout the house, but the fact that all five houses in the Willowisp Cul de Sac were designed by Jenkins makes it unique among Houston neighborhoods. 10914 Willowisp Dr. will be open Sunday, May 15 from 2 - 4pm.

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Sustainability & Preservation: The Perfect Match - Lecture May 10

“Sustainability & Preservation: The Perfect Match” Lecture by Barbara A. Campagna, FAIA, LEED AP
May 10, 2011, 6:30pm Jones Hall, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas
Presented by U. S. Green Building Council (USGBC) – Texas Gulf Coast Chapter Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (GHPA), AIA Houston & Houston Mod. With additional support from The Association for Preservation Technology International (APT)-Texas Chapter & Preservation Texas
This lecture is being held to promote National Preservation Month, and to raise awareness of the important link between preservation and sustainability.
The May 10th lecture will be held at 6:30 PM, at the University of St. Thomas, in Jones Hall, designed by Philip Johnson.
Admission is free and open to the public. Please arrive early to ensure a seat. No guaranteed seating is available. Jones Hall at St. Thomas University is located at the corner of Sul Ross Street and Yokum Blvd. Visitor parking is available in the Moran Center Parking Garage, located at West Alabama and Graustark, for a fee of $2.00.
A reception sponsored by Houston Mod will follow the program

Houston Modern Market, April 8-10

Houston Modern Market April 8th, 9th and 10th at Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter Street, Houston.

The market will showcase Mid-Century, Vintage Modern and Contemporary Modern creations including fine art, furniture, jewelry, objects, design and architecture.

Included will be a Friday night preview party with drink, delicacies, performing arts with a performance by Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, entertainment and first chance buying. Saturday and Sunday`s Modern Market will feature lectures and exhibits to accompany modern vendors showing and selling their modern treasures.

A portion of the proceeds benefit Houston Mod.

Houston Modern Market is an educational and fun way to bring local and national awareness to our city`s modern legacy, and with our efforts, to promote its preservation.

Links
Houston Modern Market Web Site

Lecture: Preservation of Modern Architecture. By Theodore H.M. Prudon, PhD, FAIA

2011 is the second year for MODern month in Houston, and the inaugural year for MODern Month in Texas.

Organizations in three cities have partnered to host lectures in Houston, Austin and Dallas on April 11-13. Each lecture is hosted by a local Texas chapter or friend organization of DOCOMOMO US, which include Houston Mod, the first friend organization of DOCOMOMO US. These lectures are being held to support the statewide effort.

The lecture will be by Theodore H.M. Prudon, PhD, FAIA and is entitled Preservation of Modern Architecture.

Theodore Prudon, PhD, FAIA, is a leading expert on the preservation of modern architecture, Principal with Prudon & Partners Architects, author of Preservation of Modern Architecture and professor at Columbia University`s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Department. Professor Prudon`s lecture will discuss the preservation of modern architecture, the need to advocate for our significant Texas modern heritage, and discuss the vital role modern preservation groups are making on the international, national, and local levels.

Professor Prudon is the president of DOCOMOMO US. DOCOMOMO is an acronym for the DOcumentation and COnservation of buildings, sites, and neighborhoods of the MOdern MOvement. Founded in 1988 in the Netherlands, DOCOMOMO International has national chapters or working parties in 54 countries and over 2,000 individual members. DOCOMOMO has become an important presence in the conservation of modern architecture worldwide, working in partnership with other international organizations, national governments, and national, regional, and local associations.

The lecture is FREE and open to the public.

April 11, 2011 - Houston. 6:30pm - Brown Auditorium, MFAH: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Presented by Houston Mod, The Design Council at the MFAH, AIA Houston.
With additional support from Preservation Texas, Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (GHPA), Association for Preservation Technology International (APT)-Texas Chapter, Rice Design Alliance (RDA)

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Download printable invitation

Mad about Mod Tour: Glenbrook Valley - Modern & Historic

Join Houston Mod for a celebration of mid-century modern architecture on October 9th. We will feature tours of the interiors and exteriors of six homes in Glenbrook Valley, plus a driving tour of notable nearby architecture in SE Houston. Glenbrook Valley has met the criteria to become the first post-war historic district in Houston and Texas. Celebrate the modern movement by attending the tour and becoming a member of Houston Mod, Houston’s modern architecture and design preservation advocacy group. Tickets for the tour are $15.00 per person, $10.00 for Houston Mod members. Join Houston Mod and get one free tour ticket for $35.00 individual membership, two tickets with $50 family membership. A list of all tour sites (6 houses confirmed, other sites to be added) will be distributed on your final admission ticket. Your ticket includes admission to a SPECIAL RECEPTION at the last tour stop where you will have the opportunity to mingle with special guests including original architects, local historians and neighborhood leaders.

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Click here to register

Endangered Modern Tour: Central Presbyterian Church Campus - Saturday, August 14, 2pm

Endangered Modern Tour: Central Presbyterian Church Campus Central Presbyterian Church on Richmond is one of the finest examples of mid-century modern church architecture in Houston. (Wilson, Morris, Crain & Anderson, 1960-1962) Faced with declining membership and a facility too large, the congregation has moved from the property. The site presently is being marketed for redevelopment. We have arranged a special tour of the site including the main sanctuary, jewel-box chapel and the parish hall. See the outstanding interiors including two large glass murals, custom-designed artwork and a variety of unique details. We`ll meet at the colonnade along the parking lot at on Saturday, August 14 at 2 PM to start the tour. The interior tour will end by 3 PM. 3788 Richmond, Houston, TX

Parks & Recreation Department Renovates Historic Gragg Building

According to Houston Chronicle reporter Mike Snyder, renovations are nearing completion on the historic Gragg building.

`The low-slung building, made from a distinctive green stone known as green-cast quartzite, was commissioned in 1956 as the headquarters for a Houston-based construction firm, Farnsworth & Company. Employees of that company would later develop such well-known contemporary firms as Spaw Glass and Williams Brothers.

Farnsworth hired MacKie & Kamrath, a local architectural firm, to design the building. The designers were influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and incorporated certain elements that Wright took from Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Aztecs and Maya, said Anna Mod, a preservation consultant who prepared applications for the building`s historic designations.

“When I saw the building in Houston, that`s the first thing I thought of,” Mod recalled. “Frank Lloyd Wright had borrowed the same vocabulary.”

Stephen Fox, a Rice University architectural historian, said MacKie & Kamrath incorporated some of the same elements into other corporate headquarters built in the 1950s, including the Schlumberger building on the Gulf Freeway (1953) and what is now the Exxon-Mobil research center on Buffalo Speedway (1954). These buildings represented part of Houston`s first wave of suburbanization after World War II, Fox said.

In 1961, oil drilling magnate Oscar Lee Gragg and members of his family bought the building as an investment but never occupied it. A year later, Gragg leased the building to a 4-year-old federal agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which used it as offices for the Mercury program and the Mercury 7 astronauts — the daring fliers immortalized in Tom Wolfe`s The Right Stuff — until 1964. The city purchased the building in 1976, and the Gragg family donated surrounding property for a park. The renovation project presented a challenge in modernizing the building — it wasn`t wired for computers, for example, and “we had cables everywhere,” Turner said — without compromising its historic qualities. Accomplishing that required close consultation with the agencies that grant historic designation, Turner said.`

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Complete Houston Chronicle Article

Visit the Houston Mod Discussion Board

Keep up to date on all the latest news and opinions on the Houston Mod message board. All kinds of modern topics can be discussed here.

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Discussion Board

Join us on the Houston Mod MESSAGE BOARD!

Keep up to date on all the latest news and opinions on the Houston Mod message board. All kinds of modern topics can be discussed here.

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HAIF HOUSTON MOD MESSAGE BOARD