![]() I mean, how do you design a memorial for a slain president, for goodness sakes, and without a statue or something? And I asked him once about a statue. ![]() I think Johnson was right on the mark with it. But as time has passed and they've cleaned it up and it has an enduring kind of moving quality as a memorial to John F Kennedy. But you know, it gets better all the time. And, you know, Texans weren't know noted for being minimalist. Take the stark, white Kennedy Memorial in Dallas' Dealey Plaza.įrank Welch: Well, the Kennedy Memorial in Dallas has always been kind of controversial because it was so. Nathan Cone: Some of Johnson's commissions in Texas were a bit of a burr under the saddle of folks, though. I love the story, because that's the way he was. And he says, "You mean you want something like this?" That is how the two buildings got the anglular tops. Liedtke said "I don't want a flattop building," And Johnson just picked this picked this greenhouse part of the model off of the model, picked it up, and put it on top of the building. They already had the sort of greenhouse roof lobby at the base of a model that he was showing Liedtke. Liedtke said he didn't want any flattop buildings. The story I got was from the man who built it, a man named Liedtke, who was chairman of Pennzoil. ![]() And, you know, it's like a monstrous child's toy. It's rigorous and in the detailing of its glass and bronze skin. Welch says Pennzoil Place exemplifies Johnson's elegance and playfulness.įrank Welch: It presented to the public both a very sober building, and it is very sober. That's the building with "the crack down the middle," as Johnson once joked. Bank of America Center- now Republic Bank Center - a modern day cathedral to commerce with its gothic influence, and Johnson's breakthrough work in Houston, Pennzoil Place, built in 1976. Projects there include the Williams (Transco) Tower and its accompanying water wall. Johnson once claimed that he did his best work in the city. Nathan Cone: Houston embraced Johnson more than any other city in Texas. No one spoke about it as eloquently as he did, and he was an advocate of practicing architecture as an art to his last days. He took architecture very seriously and the art of architecture very seriously. He was cosmopolitan, but he was also very self-effacing and he didn't take himself seriously at all. Frank Welch is the author of "Philip Johnson & Texas" and says Johnson was attracted to Texas because Texans liked him so much.įrank Welch: He was very charismatic. Kennedy Memorial in Dallas, the Carter Museum of Western Art in Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Water Gardens, Corpus Christi's Art Museum of South Texas, and several large projects in Houston. Johnson's major works in Texas include the John F. ![]() ![]() Patrons John and Dominique de Menil jump-started the great architect's career in the Lone Star State with their commissions to design not only their Houston home, but the University of Saint Thomas. Nathan Cone: Philip Johnson designed over 20 buildings and public spaces in Texas, more than any other place, even New York. TPR's Nathan Cone spoke to the author of a book about Johnson's work in the Lone Star State. Architect Philip Johnson died on January 25, 2005. ![]()
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