Saturday, September 12, 2009
Houston Public Library, Central Library
500 McKinney, Houston, Texas 77002
Houston's architectural pedigree is largely known for its modern face, breathtaking scale and well-known individual architects, designers and builders. Yet, historical and contemporary expressions of vernacular architecture in Houston speak to the community-based cultural diversity that has always characterized the city. Spanish, Mexican, African American, German and Anglo influences, among others, shape the city and its home-grown architecture. This fertile combination of cultures is very much in keeping with the rich mix encountered along the Gulf Coast. Over the course of decades, new communities have come to Houston and contributed their knowledge of building traditions to our local skill base and way of life.
Vernacular Architecture and the Building Arts in Houston: The Gulf Coast Connection explores this alternate perspective on Houston’s built environment and features presentations at Houston Public Library on the multicultural roots of Houston’s vernacular styles, live demonstrations of traditional building arts by artisans at The Heritage Society, and a reception for participants and the public at the Architecture Center Houston. All programs are free and open to the public.
Vernacular Architecture and the Building Arts in Houston kicks off at 10 am at the Houston Central Library with a series of talks on the topic by noted local and national folklorists, historic preservation specialists, architects and architectural historians. Participants include Margaret Culbertson, Stephen Fox, Gregory Free, Carl Lindahl. Barry Norwood, Michelangelo Sabatino and John Michael Vlach. Audience interaction with speakers is encouraged. Schedule and bios attached.
At noon, across the street, in the courtyard of The Heritage Society, a number of skilled artisans will demonstrate building crafts such as ornamental ironwork, specialty plastering for architectural interiors, fancy brick masonry and fine carpentry and woodworking. These live demonstrations will continue until 4 p.m.
At 4 p.m. AIA-Houston will host a reception for all participants and the public at the Architecture Center Houston at 315 Capitol, Suite 120. There will be music and food reflecting the Gulf Coast theme of the programs.
Symposium Program
Central Library, 4th Floor
10 AM - Noon
Shapes of Tradition
Carl Lindahl, University of Houston
For 173 years migrants to Houston have carried with them the unseen shapes of what a home should look like and what a neighborhood should be. Largely unhampered by local government but often constrained by material means, their efforts to recreate ideal environments have combined older forms and extraordinary adaptations, resulting in creative re-conceptions of "home" and "neighborhood."
Dr. Carl Lindahl has a B.A. from Harvard and a Ph. D. in Folklore from University of Indiana. An internationally noted folklorist and narrative scholar, Lindahl is the author of 15 books. He is the Martha Gano Houston Professor of English at the University of Houston.
Gumbo Style: A Taste of the Houston Vernacular
Gregory Free, Gregory Free & Associates
What are the roots and routes of Houston's vernacular architecture? And did the city's early builders add any special flavors that produced unique places from the very beginning? This talk provides an overview of the multi-cultural roots of Houston's vernacular architecture, and positions the Bayou City in the greater context of the American Gulf Coast.
Gregory Free is a historic preservation specialist has conducted research over the last 15 years on the architectural traditions of the Gulf Coast. He received the 2005 Kress Mid-Career Grant from the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation to complete his manuscript on this topic. He is the principal of Gregory Free & Associates.
Shotgun Houses: Roots and Branches
John Michael Vlach, George Washington University
Shotgun houses, a distinctive traditional building style, are found all across the southern states. Their origins trace first back to Haiti and ultimately to Africa. If we look to their history in the American landscape, we find that behind this modest house an intriguing continuity of form combined with interesting changes to suit local circumstances.
Dr. John Vlach is a professor of folklore in the American Studies Department at George Washington University. Author of ten books, his titles include "The Afro-American Tradition in the Decorative Arts," "Common Places: Readings in Vernacular Architecture" and "Barns." He is the Director of the GWU Folklife Program.
12-1 PM Lunch Break
1-4 PM
Constructing Identities for Houston
Stephen Fox, Anchorage Foundation of Texas
Houston's lack of consensus on its civic cultural identity stimulated repeated efforts during the twentieth century to invent one. This talk will analyze the ways these propositions engaged-or failed to engage-the city's nineteenth- and early twentieth-century vernacular landscapes as well as how they related to the economic forces shaping Houston.
Stephen Fox is a fellow of the Anchorage Foundation of Texas and teaches architectural history at Rice University and University of Houston. He is widely published and the author of "The Country Houses of John Staub" and co-author of the noted "Galveston Architectural Guidebook" with Ellen Beasley.
Freedman's Town: A Legacy of Aspirations
Barry Norwood, Prairie View A&M University
Freedman's Town, Houston's oldest African American settlement, is a crucial element in the city's architectural vernacular. This presentation considers the community's origins and aspirations through the physical architectural elements that were designed and built by its residents to define a sense of place and time.
Barry Norwood is a professor in the School of Architecture at Prairie View A&M University. As the director of the PVA&M Center for Urban and Rural Enhancement Services, he has worked extensively in communities throughout Texas guiding historic preservation, design and community development assessments.
Catalogue Houses: The Vernacular Paradox
Margaret Culbertson, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Early house catalogues provide an interesting perspective on vernacular architecture. Catalogues appropriated vernacular forms and disseminated them across the country, while local home builders expressed vernacular preferences and needs in their selection and adaptations of designs. This talk examines the dialogue between national and local forms, as well as traditional and high-style.
Margaret Culbertson is an architectural historian and the author of "American House Designs" and "Texas Houses Built By the Book." She currently serves as Director of the Hirsch Library at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Sacred Sites: A Developing Vernacular of Cultural and Religious Identity in Houston
Michelangelo Sabatino, University of Houston
In recent decades, Houston's dramatically changing demographics has spawned a wide range of faith communities to serve its diverse population. Sabatino highlights these emergent communities in relation to the architectural vernacular or "language" central to these sites of worship.
Dr. Michelangelo Sabatino is an assistant professor of architecture in the College of Architecture at the University of Houston. His Ph.D. was awarded by the University of Toronto and its focus is the manifestation of vernacular traditions in modern design and architecture.
12-4 PM Building Arts Demonstrations
The Heritage Society, Sam Houston Park, 1100 Bagby
Since when did the blanket phrase "working construction" come to cover the wide range of skills and trades involved in raising a building? While we are accustomed to recognizing the work of architects and designers, we seldom understand the specific skills of experienced artisans who are central to crafting a sound structure and adding decorative and aesthetic value to buildings - domestic and otherwise. This program seeks to honor these trades and the men and women who have maintained in Houston.
Woodworking
Wood is perhaps the single most common material used in constructing buildings, particularly domestic ones. While carpentry is basic to most structures, the detail associated with fine woodworking and embellishment requires an even greater expense of time and a more concentrated level of precision. In this demonstration two artisans, Krissy Tuttle and Juan Martinez, will share very different approaches (and thus different skills) to creating decorative elements in wood.
Plastering
Plaster is used to cover walls and create decorative elements. Overtime, the prevalence of plaster has given way to drywall but plaster walls are hands down stronger and more durable. Experienced artisans who work with plaster usually have acquired skills for crafting cornices, medallions and other enrichments. Demonstartor Matt Henson Sr. is a second-generation plasterer known for the high quality of his work and is in great demand for restoration projects nationwide.
Ornamental Ironwork
Ironwork can be cast or wrought. The first is a fabrication process that allows for mass production and the latter provides the capacity for customization based on individually forged pieces. Wrought iron involves metal heated in a forge and hammered on an anvil to create desired shapes. Wrought ironwork depends on the craftsman’s attention to many elements including heat, materials and the mastery of technique. Dave Koenig and associates from the Houston Area Blacksmith's Association will discuss and illustrate these fundamentals.
Masonry
Brick and stone may be second only to wood in popularity as basic building material. This preference is due, no doubt, to the solidity and safety of masonry structures, their efficiency as shelter, and their resistance to the degradations of the environment. Beauty, however, is an equal factor in this equation. While the qualities of level, straight and plumb are essential to the masons effort, fancy work involving unusual patterns and non-linear designs extend our understanding of the craft.
4-6 PM Reception
Architecture Center Houston, 315 Capitol, Suite 120.
Please join us following the symposium and building arts demonstrations for delicious refreshments and fine Creole music.
|
For More Information
The following books are available at Houston Public Library. Go to www.houstonlibrary.org and click on Catalog to check availability and to place a hold with an HPL card.
Glassie, Henry H. Vernacular Architecture. Philadelphia: Material Culture, 2000.
Oliver, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. (in-library use only).
Steen, Athena Swentzell, Bill Steen, and Eiko Komatsu. Built by Hand: Vernacular Building Around the World. Photographs by Yoshio Komatsu. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2003.
Upton, Dell, ed. America's Architectural Roots: Ethnic Groups That Built America. Washington, DC: Preservation Press, 1986.
Vlach, John Michael. Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery. Chapel Hill: University of North Caroline Press, 1993.
Culbertson, Margaret. Texas Houses Built by the Book: The Use of Published Designs, 1850-1925. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1999.
Gordon, Echols. Early Texas Architecture. Fort Worth, Texas Christian University Press, 2000.
Jordan, Terry G. Texas Log Building: A Folk Architecture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.
Houston Public Library's Houston Metropolitan Research Center in the Julia Ideson Building maintains a collection of architectural drawings for more than 8,800 structures from more than 250 architects and engineers. Drawings in the collection comprise a history of homes from the modest to the grand, small office buildings to recent skyscrapers, "dream palace theaters" to the Astrodome, manufacturing plants to automobile dealerships and even service stations.
Search the Architectural Archives database at:
http://www2.houstonlibrary.org/cgi-bin/archives/architecture.pl
HMRC will begin digitization of its collection of architectural drawings during 2010. An online resource, the digital archive will offer increased access to the collection to researchers. Go to www.houstonlibrary.org and click on Special Collections.
Vernacular Architecture Forum, www.vernaculararchitectureforum.org, hosts an annual conference and publishes The Journal of Vernacular Architecture.
Vernacular Architecture and the Building Arts in Houston: The Gulf Coast Connection is made possible in part by grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, Houston Arts Alliance and Humanities Texas through the Houston Institute for Culture. Co-sponosors are the Houston Institute for Culture, the Houston Public Library, AIA-Houston, Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, Harris County Heritage Society, Prairie View A&M School of Architecture, Rice Design Alliance, Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture, and University of Houston College of Architecture. Program advisory panel members include Minnette Boesel, Mayor's Assistant for Cultural Affairs; Greg Free, historic preservation specialist; John Vlach and Carl Lindahl, folklorists; Margaret Culbertson and Stephen Fox, architectural historians; and Michelangelo Sabatino and Barry Norwood, architects.
For more information, please call the Houston Public Library at 832-393-1313, or Houston Institute for Culture at 713-521-3686, or request information by email, info@houstonculture.org.
|
|
|
COVER IMAGE
John T. Biggers, Four
Seasons, 1984, color
lithograph, 22 ½ x 31
inches, collection of Dr.
Sarah Trotty, reproduced
with permission of Hazel
Biggers.
Share on Facebook
|
