# Howard Barnstone > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Howard_Barnstone > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Howard_Barnstone.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Barnstone > Source revision: 1287029408 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American architect}} {{essay|date=September 2020}} '''Howard Barnstone''' (March 27, 1923 – April 29, 1987) was an American architect.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/02/obituaries/howard-barnstone-64-dies-texas-architect-and-author.html|title=Howard Barnstone, 64, Dies; Texas Architect and Author|last=Peter Applebome|author-link=Peter Applebome|date=May 2, 1987|work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)|accessdate=5 June 2014}} He was best known for his work with [Mark Rothko](/source/Mark_Rothko) on the [Rothko Chapel](/source/Rothko_Chapel), and for the houses and public buildings he designed with Preston M. Bolton and [Gene Aubry](/source/Gene_Aubry) in the 1950s and 1960s, largely in Houston and [Galveston](/source/Galveston%2C_Texas).Stephen Fox, "Howard Barnstone 1923–1987," ''Cite'', Fall 1987, pp. 18–21.Peter Applebome, [https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/02/obituaries/howard-barnstone-64-dies-texas-architect-and-author.html " "Howard Barnstone 64 Dies, Texas Architect and Author,"] ''The New York Times'', February 5, 1987. Accessed April 12, 2019. Barnstone attended Yale College and the [Yale School of Architecture](/source/Yale_School_of_Architecture), from which he received a Bachelor of Architecture in 1948. He was a professor at the University of Houston College of Architecture and Design for more than thirty years.Houston Library, [http://digital.houstonlibrary.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/barnstone "Howard Barnstone Collection,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606205753/http://digital.houstonlibrary.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/barnstone |date=2014-06-06 }} Houston Library, Collections. Accessed April 17, 2019. From 1952 to 1961, Barnstone was a partner in Bolton & Barnstone, one of Houston´s most public modern architectural firms at the time; the firm became Barnstone and Aubry (1966-1970) after he partnered with Aubry, his former student.Stephen Fox, [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbael Barnstone, Howard], Texas State Historical Association, Articles. Accessed April 17, 2019. Architectural historian Stephen Fox characterized Barnstone's approach as one committed to personal vision, free inquiry, and delight over orthodoxy or [conventional wisdom](/source/conventional_wisdom), resulting in diverse buildings that combined proportional grace with wit and charm, and diminutive scale with spatial expansiveness. ==Early life== Howard Barnstone was born on March 27, 1923, to Robert C. and Dora (Lempert) Barnstone in [Auburn, Maine](/source/Auburn%2C_Maine). He grew up in Maine and New York City. He attended Amherst College before graduating from Yale in 1944.{{cite web | first=Stephen | last=Fox | title=Barnstone, Howard | series=Handbook of Texas Online | access-date=September 10, 2020 | url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/barnstone-howard | publisher=Texas State Historical Association}} ==Career== Barnstone served in the [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) from 1944 to 1946. He arrived in Houston in 1948. Architecture writers identify [Mies van der Rohe](/source/Mies_van_der_Rohe), [Philip Johnson](/source/Philip_Johnson) and [Charles Eames](/source/Charles_Eames) as influences on the houses Barnstone and Bolton designed, such as the Lawrence Blum (1954), Gordon (1955), Moustier (1956) and Winterbotham (I960) structures; they have been described externally as geometrically precise, surely proportioned "structural cages," whose idiosyncratic internal plans contrasted open, glass-walled spaces with intimate, compact enclosures. Barnstone's work with Aubry in the 1960s moved away from the van der Rohe influence to incorporate historical, vernacular and "[New Brutalism](/source/Brutalist_architecture)" influences (e.g., the Galveston News Building, 1965).Stephen Fox and Eugene Aubry, [https://www.amazon.com/Born-Island-Galveston-Remember-Humanities/dp/1603447962 ''Born on the Island: The Galveston We Remember''], Texas A&M University Press, 2012. Accessed April 16, 2019. Their public buildings include the "Art Barn" (Rice Museum at [Rice University](/source/Rice_University), 1969–1970),[http://houstonmod.net/bldg_detail.asp?id=25&by=type&seled=Institutional "Rice Museum and Media Center,"]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. Vassar Place Apartments (1965, featured in ''[Architectural Record](/source/Architectural_Record)''),[http://houstonmod.net/bldg_detail.asp?id=66&by=arch&seled=Barnstone%20and%20Aubry "Vassar Place Apartments,"]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. and Guinan Hall (1971, part of Philip Johnson's modernist campus design for the University of St. Thomas) in Houston.[http://houstonmod.net/bldg_detail.asp?id=83&by=type&seled=Institutional "University of St. Thomas,"]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. The Art Barn was a corrugated-iron, tension-cable-supported structure commissioned by art collectors [Dominique](/source/Dominique_de_Menil) and [John De Menil](/source/John_De_Menil) as a temporary exhibition site; the structure remained in use for over 40 years, its industrial aesthetic, jutting angles and elegant proportions serving as inspiration for Houston's “Tin House” architectural movement.Ben Koush, [https://magazine.texasarchitects.org/2019/01/08/housey-house/ "Housey-House,"] ''Texas Architect'', January/February 2019. Accessed April 12, 2019.Molly Glentzer and Heather Alexander, [ "Rice University to demolish historic art 'Barn,'"] ''Houston Chronicle'', March 5, 2014. Accessed April 12, 2019.Mark Lamster, [http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/2014_March/endangered/ "Modernism under threat in Texas and beyond,"] ''The Dallas Morning News'', Archives, 2014. Accessed April 12, 2019. Barnstone and Aubry also built several notable houses: the Maher (1964),[http://houstonmod.net/bldg_detail.asp?id=154&by=type&seled=Single-Family%20Residential "The Maher House]{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}," Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. Bell (1969) and Kempner (1969) in Houston, and the Levin in Galveston (1969), among others. Architectural historians describe them as externally self-effacing structures emphasizing intimacy, anonymity and solemnity, which opened "internally with high ceilings, simple planar walls, and dramatic expanses of glass"; The Maher House was featured in ''Architectural Record'' in 1965 and in the book, ''25 Years of Record Houses''.Herbert L. Smith, Jr., [https://www.amazon.com/Years-Record-Houses-Herbert-Smith/dp/0070023573 ''25 Years of Record Houses''], New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984. Accessed April 17, 2019. Barnstone's built works of the 1970s and 1980s were eclectic and sometimes explored [postmodern](/source/Postmodern_architecture) styles. ==Works== Barnstone published two books. ''The Galveston That Was'' (Macmillan 1966) is a heavily illustrated book about the historic architecture of Galveston, featuring principal photography by [Henri Cartier-Bresson](/source/Henri_Cartier-Bresson) and [Ezra Stoller](/source/Ezra_Stoller).Howard Barnstone, [https://www.amazon.com/Galveston-That-Was-Howard-Barnstone/dp/0025072404 ''The Galveston That Was''], MacMillan Publishing Company, 1966. ''The Architecture of John F. Staub'' (University of Texas Press 1979) documents the work of noted Houston architect [John F. Staub](/source/John_F._Staub) (1892-1981).Howard Barnstone, [https://www.amazon.com/Architecture-John-F-Staub-Houston/dp/0292740123/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Howard+Barnstone%2C+%E2%80%98%E2%80%99The+Architecture+of+John+F.+Staub%E2%80%99%E2%80%99&qid=1556566854&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmrnull ''The Architecture of John F. Staub''], University of Texas Press, 1979. ==Death and legacy== Barnstone died on April 29, 1987. He is buried at Forest Park East Cemetery in [League City, Texas](/source/League_City%2C_Texas). Barnstone's drawings and papers are available in the Houston Library's "Howard Barnstone Collection". ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnstone, Howard}} Category:1923 births Category:1987 deaths Category:20th-century American architects Category:Architects from Houston Category:Architects from Maine Category:Yale College alumni Category:University of Houston faculty Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:Yale School of Architecture alumni --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Howard Barnstone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Barnstone) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Barnstone?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.