MODERN TEXAS URBAN SITES AND BUILDINGS DALLAS FORT WORTH AUSTIN SAN ANTONIO HOUSTON 10 urban motorized itineraries 10 urban pedestrian itineraries Comprehensive 5 cities trip Gianni Brizzi Table of Content Introduction page: 3 DALLAS City presentation 5 List of urban itineraries 6 Itinerary 1 – Downtown 7 Itinerary 2 - Arts District 14 Itinerary 3 - Fountain Place and Perrot Museum 19 Itinerary 4 - Oak Lawn 20 Dallas by night 21 FORT WORTH City presentation 23 List of urban itineraries 24 Itinerary 1 - Central Downtown 25 Itinerary 2 - Outer Downtown 28 Itinerary 3 - Cultural District 31 AUSTIN City presentation 37 List of urban itineraries 38 Itinerary 1 - Capitol Area 39 Itinerary 2 - Downtown 40 Itinerary 3 - University of Texas 44 Itinerary 4 - Colorado River 47 Austin by night 49 SAN ANTONIO City presentation 50 List of urban itineraries 51 Itinerary 1 - Historic Center 52 Itinerary 2 - Mission Trail 58 Itinerary 3 - Contemporary architecture 60 San Antonio by night 65 HOUSTON City presentation 66 List of urban itineraries 67 Itinerary 1 - Downtown 68 Itinerary 2 - Uptown 76 Itinerary 3 – Hermann Park - Museum District 81 Hermann Park - Rice University 88 Hermann Park - Texas Medical Center 90 Houston by night 91 COMPREHENSIVE FIVE CITIES ITINERARY 93 2 Introduction This guide is for lovers of modern architecture who travel to Texas and are interested in visiting urban sites and buildings of environmental and aesthetic significance. It focuses on, but is not limited to, undertakings from the 1950s to the present. With its 268,820 square miles, Texas is the largest American State after Alaska. With some 26 million inhabitants and an annual product of $1,387 billion (2013 data), Texas is also the second most populous and economically sizable state after California. The demographic and economic importance of Texas stands out even more when compared with that of many important nations around the world. Indeed, its population exceeds that of Chile and the Netherlands, and its economic product exceeds that of Australia and Mexico. Three of its urban centers, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, rank among the 10 largest US cities. Austin, the State Capital, is eleventh in ranking. In addition, with more than 6 million inhabitants each, the metropolitan areas of Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth are of international significance and compete with the world’s largest metropolitan areas in critical economic activities such as trading agricultural products, supporting the development of the energy industry, promoting innovative technology, and providing advanced medical services. These cities are also magnets and generators of financial ventures and capital investments. These essential data define modern Texas and its role in the Nation and the world. But, in the popular imagination, the Lone Star State is synonymous with vast prairies crossed by immense herds of cattle, adventurous and freedom-loving folks like its legendary cowboys, and rich and extravagant families like those represented on the Dallas TV serial. For those with greater cultural interests, Texas is also the saga of the Franciscan evangelization of the Spanish-American Empire’s northernmost frontier and of the esoteric marriage between the Yankee and the Mexican cultures. This marriage stems from the dramatic revolt of Los Alamos and continues after the secession of Texas from Mexico and its merging into the United States. Always for those with cultural interests, Texas is also a land of great enterprises and successes such as those achieved in the exploration, extraction and transformation of oil and gas, in the surgical interventions on the human heart, and in the remote control of space missions. 3 Less known to the general public, but equally important, are Texas’ achievements in the field of urban development and building construction. Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio boost urban sites of great visual attractiveness, buildings of remarkable architectural value, and public parks of captivating beauty with spectacular fountains and imaginative monuments. With foresight, government agencies and private concerns engaged architects and landscape designers of international extraction and fame to produce designs of an exceptionally high quality and variety. With acumen, municipal authorities conveyed the establishment of museums, theaters and other cultural institutions into specialized areas or districts to facilitate their fruition through contiguity. With equal acumen, they transformed, into attractive urban parks, marginal areas along water courses and transport infrastructure. Universities and medical centers contributed to the effort with the development of sites and buildings of considerable aesthetic and architectural value. Specialized literature and the internet provide ample information on the urban context and built heritage of modern Texas. Unfortunately, these data are dispersed among multiple sources and their collection and organization is burdensome. As a result, many travelers with architectural interests, find it difficult to identify worthy sites and buildings during their planned visit. This guide aims at overcoming this difficulty. The guide organizes sites and buildings along selected urban itineraries. The itineraries can be combined in a flexible manner based on one’s time availability and personal preferences. Travelers exclusively interested in urban sites and buildings, for example, can use the itineraries to organize a specialized visit, whereas those having multiple- tourism interests can construct a broader travel program. For each city, the guide proposes: (a) three or four major itineraries; and (b) a selection of significant sites and buildings for each itinerary. Moreover, the guide proposes a comprehensive program for the entire set of cities. Types of ITINERARIES Pedestrian Itinerary (Ped.It). This type of itinerary calls for the visit of sites and buildings within a confined urban area that can be easily viewed by walking. Sites and buildings are listed in sequence from a starting point reachable either by public transportation (cab or bus) or with a private vehicle (personal or rented car). Long- term parking is available in proximity of the starting point. Motorized Itinerary (Mot.It). This type of itinerary calls for the visit of individual or groups of sites and buildings scattered across a large area. While following the itinerary, visitors may choose to stop their vehicle briefly (use flashing lights) along the margin of the road to better observe particular structures and take pictures. For specific sites and buildings, visitors are expected to park their vehicles short term (< 2 hours) at metered parking lots or in local parking garages and to carry out a brief visit on foot. This activity is called Park and See (P&S). Selection of SITES AND BUILDINGS Though this book focuses primarily on contemporary works, the proposed selection includes nearby older sites and buildings of interest. For some, observation is limited to their exterior; for others, it includes a visit of their grounds and public areas; for others still, it includes a visit to their interior and even their special content (e.g., museums). 4 DALLAS Year of foundation: 1856 Urban population: 1,241,162 Population of metropolitan area (Dallas – Fort Worth): 7,095,411 Dallas is the third most populous city of Texas after Houston and San Antonio and is the ninth most populous city of the United States. Its demographic importance is enhanced by being part of a much bigger metropolitan area that includes the neighboring city of Fort Worth. Similarly as many other cities in Texas, Dallas was established along the banks of a river, the Trinity River, in a location suitable for easy crossing by large cattle herds. Its urban development stems from its role as a center for agricultural and cotton production at the crossroad of multiple railroad lines. Today, the city has a vastly diversified economy led by critical sectors such as finance, commerce, telecommunications, information technology, energy, health services, transports and logistics. The economic relevance of the city is defined by its being one of the Nation’s largest concentrations of Fortune 500 enterprises. Dallas’s continuous and rapid economic expansion rests on the richness of its civil society, the vision of its entrepreneurial class, and the engagement of its public administration. Working together during the last 20 years, they have produced an extraordinary transformation of the city’s urban fabric, its stock of buildings, and its skyline. The first has gained an enhanced transportation infrastructure and a vastly renovated downtown with an improved blend of business and residential activities and an impressive Arts District. The second counts on innumerable units of admirable architectural design with equally admirable grounds. The third boosts spectacular views of skyscrapers, many of which exceed 700 feet in height. Notwithstanding the presence of a number of valuable buildings of the late 19th century and the initial part of the 20th century, Dallas’ architectural heritage mainly consists of modern and post-modern structures. Most of these structures are located in the downtown area though there is no lack of qualified modern buildings in peripheral areas, particularly in those of Oak Lawn and Uptown. The heritage of the 19th and early 20th centuries includes buildings in neo-gothic, neo-classical, Victorian, eclectic, and art-deco style. 5 DALLAS - City Visit The proposed program