Tour Mod

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JANUARY Mod of the Month Houston Mod invites you to join us Sunday, January 31st for a Mod of the Month open house event from 2:00-4:00 PM. Masks are required to be worn for this event. Please resist touching surfaces and maintain 6 feet of social distancing  Please help us find new preservation-minded owners for these outstanding vintage modern houses located about 9 miles west of downtown Houston. One house is open for touring and two near- by are drive-bys, and viewable online. Thanks to Houston MODern Market for sponsoring this FREE event. 3 Spring Hollow Street, Houston, TX 77024 (Open Sunday) HAR Link | Google Map Wilson, Morris and Crain designed this house about 1950 for the H. Fletcher and Katherine T. Brown family. The single level house with built-up low pitched gravel covered roof is situated on a magnificent wooded lot. Tremendous amounts of glass create a strong connection to the naturalistic creek front setting.  H. Fletcher Brown was an attorney and Katherine T. Brown was a professor at Rice University, teaching art history in the school of architecture, plus serving as dean of undergraduate students. She graduated from Rice in 1938 and in 1963 received an MFA from Cornell University. She was described as being almost impossibly elegant and as a beloved instructor with students clamoring to take her classes until her 1989 retirement. Wilson, Morris and Crain and firm were mostly Rice graduates. The firm was one of the most prominent in Houston, later hired to design the Astrodome and One Shell Plaza plus many others. By 1972, the firm had become known as S. I. Morris Associates. 339 Hunters Trail Street, Houston, TX 77024 (Drive-by and online tour) HAR Link | Google Map Charles Tapley designed this attractive, well appointed house with an open feel organized around a private large central courtyard bringing in shady views. Abundant windows are balanced with gallery like art spaces. Charles Tapley was an architect, landscape architect and taught architecture at the University of Houston. He was a 1955 Rice graduate and perhaps most known for his work to preserve and restore Buffalo Bayou. Tapley designed the now endangered Tranquillty Park that honors the Apollo 11 moon mission. 347 Hunters Trail Street, Houston, TX 77024 (Drive-by and online tour) HAR Link | Google Map This extremely thoughtfully conceived house known as "The House of Ideas" was built for House and Garden magazine with architect Bruce E. Sasse, Jr. and wife Del in charge of the design from the office of Ford, Powell & Carson of San Antonio. Houston's often pleasant climate can be enjoyed thanks to the incorporation of covered outdoor walkways, deeply shaded porches and screened dining and living areas. Note the special detailing of the doors and walls, soaring sloped ceilings, and how the house transitions into the landscape in several areas. Ford, Powell & Carson was founded in 1939 by legendary regional modernist O'Neil Ford. Their work involves both historic and new structures. Houston Mod has toured HemisFair '68 and the campus of Trinity University, two of their projects. The Mod Squad will be on hand at Sunday's event to assist with membership and publication purchases. After Alden: Midcentury Architecture in Brazosport, Texas, Houston Mod's new publication by Marty Merritt with a forward by Stephen Fox and photography by Benjamin Hill, will be available at Sunday's event along with our other publications. Or, you may purchase a copy online at our website.   More Mod News   Houston Mod mourns the loss of Thesalone Williams who died peacefully on November 30, 2020 at the age of 101. Thesy moved to Houston in the 1950s with her architect husband, Allen Williams. Together their firm produced many residential and commercial buildings of charming distinction in Houston, Brenham, Bay City, Wharton and other surrounding towns. She did the interior design work and drawings along with her husband, Allen. There was never a project too small or too large. Thesy was a long time volunteer with Houston Mod and a great resource of Houston's Modern past of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the architect community of that time. She was a great friend and longtime supporter of Houston Mod and will be greatly missed. Happy Birthday to Victor Lundy, FAIAwho turns 98 on February 1st. Mr. Lundy, arguably the most renowned architect to have lived and worked in Houston, We wish him much health and happiness in the years to come.  Houston Mod is a friend organization ofDocomomo US, a national non-profit organization dedicated to theDocumentation and Conservation of theModern Movement. Docomomo US has been dedicated to this mission for nearly 25 years as a chapter of Docomomo International. A single Docomomo US Domestic membership may be added to any Houston Mod membership for the 50% discounted Friend Organization rate of $45.00.

Houston Mod is dedicated to promoting knowledge and appreciation of modern architecture and design in Houston and Texas and advocates the preservation of this cultural legacy, seeking support from its members and the general public in achieving this goal.