Synopses & Reviews
In the early 1920s, architect John F. Staub, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, who had studied at MIT and worked in New York, came to the burgeoning city of Houston as an assistant to nationally prominent architect Harrie T. Lindeberg. Staub was charged with administering construction of three houses designed by Lindeberg for members of the cityand#8217;s rapidly emerging elite. He would go on to establish one of the most influential architectural practices in Houston, where he would remain until his death in 1981.
Over four decades, Staub designed grand houses in such communities as Shadyside, Broadacres, and, perhaps most notably, River Oaks. His clients included the Hoggs, for whom he created Bayou Bend; the Mastersons, his clients for Rienzi; and members of the Wiess, Cullen, Farish, Welder, Fay, and Elkins families. Although Staub also completed commissions for clients elsewhere in Texas and the United States, it was primarily in Houston that his work and influence took root.
This ambitious study of Stauband#8217;s work by architectural historian Stephen Fox goes beyond a description of Stauband#8217;s houses. Fox analyzes the roles of space, structure, and decoration in creating, defining, and maintaining social class structures and expectations and shows how Staub was able to incorporate these elements and understandings into the elegant buildings he designed for his clients. In the process, he contributes greatly to a fuller understanding of Houstonand#8217;s emergence as a premier American city.
Stunning color images by architectural photographer Richard Cheek, combined with Foxand#8217;s well-grounded and expansive thesis, create a volume that will enchant, inform, and entertain. Students and aficionados of American domestic architecture of the 1920s, and#8217;30s, and#8217;40s, and and#8217;50s will appreciate the wealth of material, and the volumeand#8217;s contribution to architectural history and the sociology of architecture will commend itself to readers across the nation.
Review
andldquo;Stephen Foxandrsquo;s masterful history, The Country Houses of John F. Staub, thoroughly captures the nuances of the architectandrsquo;s 50-year career. The book is unmatched in scope as Fox describes in detail the great variety of houses for privileged clients drawn to Staub, who with artistic generosity created dwellings of welcome and comfort. Most of the houses still stand handsomely on their sites.andrdquo;--Frank D. Welch, FAIA
About the Author
STEPHEN FOX is a Fellow of the Anchorage Foundation of Texas.RICHARD CHEEK is one of the foremost architectural photographers in America. His work has been showcased in more than a dozen volumes published by some of the nationand#8217;s most prestigious presses.