Editorial Reviews

"Through the shifts and meanderings of Johnson's work, Welch captures trends, both high and low, in the evolution of American architecture over the last half century."

—Cite

Philip Johnson is unarguably the most influential and best-known American architect working at the close of this century. Over six decades he has been a leading advocate of European-inspired modernist architecture, patron of the Museum of Modern Art, and habitué of elite East Coast cultural circles. Yet his most distinguished large buildings are all in Texas.

In this book, Frank Welch draws on interviews with Johnson, his colleagues, and patrons to discover why Johnson has done his best work in the Lone Star State. He opens with an overview of Johnson's formation as an architect, leading up to his pivotal meeting with Dominique and John de Menil, who chose him to build their house in Houston in the late 1940s. Welch chronicles Johnson's long association with the de Menils and other wealthy Texans and the many commissions this produced, including the University of St. Thomas and St. Basil's Chapel in Houston, the Kennedy Memorial, Thanksgiving Square, and the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, the Amon Carter Museum and the Water Garden in Fort Worth, and the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi.

This history of Johnson's work in Texas reveals how the architect's bold, outspoken personality attracted Texas clients and how their referrals shaped his career. It also demonstrates how Johnson's advocacy of architecture-as-art has affected the cultural climate of Texas cities. Perhaps most of all, it records Johnson's ongoing love affair with the state that made him its favorite "out-of-town" architect. As he recently quipped during a slow time in his New York office, "I should have moved there; it's the only place I have any work!"

Customer Reviews

Pair made in Heaven, 2005-04-28
by Shannon Deason (Houston)

Johnson and Texas, what a wonderful mix. I always loved Philip Johnson, the man and the work. He was such a brutally honest person and his work really defined the skylines of Houston and Dallas. I love the Transco, now Williams Tower, and his Republic Bank Building in Houston, they are soaring and harken back to the great Art Deco Buildings of the 20's and 30's. This book does of fine job of research and gets the right mix of photos and text, though you can never have too many photos for my taste. Houston definitely got the better buildings in Texas, Johnson always admitted that, but his buildings in Dallas are pure Johnson and are wonderful in their own way. This book is a nice tribute to Johnson and though he was blessed with a long, highly adverturous life, he will be missed.

PHILIP JOHNSON'S POLITICS AND CYNICAL SURVIVAL, 2005-04-08
by Eugene Tenenbaum (Bronx, NY USA)

On the other hand, Philip Johnson was an active fascist sympathizer and active propagandist for the Nazi government, who had tried to implement fascism in USA for at least 8 years between 1932 and 1940. Details of this past are described in "WE CANNOT NOT KNOW HISTORY:" PHILIP JOHNSON'S POLITICS AND CYNICAL SURVIVAL by KAZYS VARNELIS in Journal of Architectural Education, November 1994 published also on the Internet, and also discussed at http://arch.designcommunity.com/viewtopic.php?t=3709.

Book Design Awards Winner, 2004-03-31

Book design: Heidi A. Haeuser. This book won book design awards by Publishers Association of the West (2001), and by The Rounce & Coffin Club Western Books Exhibition (2001).