In Texas “the landscape is always the protagonist,” notes architecture writer Germany (Harwell Hamilton Harris
), and she covers 150 years with 25 residences that embody her theme. For the better part of a century, the landscape remained an undercurrent in fashionable homes such as an 1854 Greek Revival mansion in Austin and a Victorian Italianate home in Jefferson. Starting with Philip Johnson’s 1949 de Menil home in Houston, renowned architects appear on the scene, including Bruce Goff, Paul Rudolph and Steven Holl. Once Germany establishes David Williams (1890–1962) as the “fulcrum on which Texas architecture turned,” she proposes a true Texas tradition, which she explores through the work of Williams’s students, co-workers and a new generation that seeks inspiration in the state’s earliest buildings, such as the farmhouses of German settlers in central Texas. The anecdotal style of the entries provides good background on both architects and clients. 225 color photos. (June)
