Howard Barnstone (March 27, 1923 – April 29, 1987) was an American architect. He was best known for his work with

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko ( ; Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz until 1940; September 25, 1903February 25, 1970) was an American abstract art, abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular reg ...

on the

Rothko Chapel The Rothko Chapel is a non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas, founded by John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art: on its walls are fourteen paintings by Mark Rothko in ...

, and for the houses and public buildings he designed with Preston M. Bolton and Gene Aubry in the 1950s and 1960s, largely in Houston and

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

.Stephen Fox, "Howard Barnstone 1923–1987," ''Cite'', Fall 1987, pp. 18–21.Peter Applebome
" "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 The Yale School of Architecture (YSoA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University. The School awards the degrees of Master of Architecture I (M.Arch I), Master of Architecture II (M.Arch II), Master of Environmental Desi ...

, 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
"Howard Barnstone Collection,"
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
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 The conventional wisdom or received opinion is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted by the public and/or by experts in a field. History The term "conventional wisdom" dates back to at least 1838, as a synonym for "commonplace kno ...

, 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 Auburn is a city in south-central Maine, within the United States. Settled in the foothills of the Western Lakes and Mountains region of the state, The city serves as the county seat of Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County. The popul ...

. He grew up in Maine and New York City. He attended Amherst College before graduating from Yale in 1944.

Career

Barnstone served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

from 1944 to 1946. He arrived in Houston in 1948. Architecture writers identify

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...

and

Charles Eames Charles Ormond Eames Jr. (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) was an American designer, architect and filmmaker. In professional partnership with his wife Ray-Bernice Kaiser Eames, he made groundbreaking contributions in the fields of architect ...

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 Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

" influences (e.g., the Galveston News Building, 1965).Stephen Fox and Eugene Aubry
''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 William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

, 1969–1970),"Rice Museum and Media Center,"
Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. Vassar Place Apartments (1965, featured in ''

Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. Its editor in chief is Josephine Minutillo. ''The Record'', as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important ...

''),"Vassar Place Apartments,"
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."University of St. Thomas,"
Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. The Art Barn was a corrugated-iron, tension-cable-supported structure commissioned by art collectors

Dominique "Dominique" is a 1963 French language popular song, written and performed by Belgian singer Jeannine Deckers, better known as Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile" in French) or The Singing Nun. The song is about Saint Dominic, a Spanish-born priest an ...

and

John De Menil John de Ménil (January 4, 1904 – June 1, 1973) was a Franco-American businessman, philanthropist, and art patron.Helfenstein, Josef, and Laureen Schipsi. ''Art and Activism: Projects of John and Dominique de Menil''. Houston: The Menil Coll ...

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
"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
"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),"The Maher House
" 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.
''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 Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

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 Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...

and Ezra Stoller.Howard Barnstone
''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 (1892-1981).Howard Barnstone
''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 League City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Galveston County, Texas, Galveston County, within the metropolitan area. The population was 114,392 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city of League City has a small portion ...

. Barnstone's drawings and papers are available in the Houston Library's "Howard Barnstone Collection".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnstone, Howard 1923 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American architects Architects from Houston Architects from Maine Yale College alumni University of Houston faculty United States Navy personnel of World War II Yale School of Architecture alumni