Main entry:

Barna, Joel Warren, 1951-

Title & Author:

The see-through years : creation and destruction in Texas architecture and real estate, 1981-1991 / by Joel Warren Barna ; photography by BlackmonWintersKuhner.

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication:

Houston, Tex. : Rice University Press, 1992.

Description:

xvi, 288 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-268) and index.
1. J.R. McConnell Died for Our Sins -- 2. Middle-Class Houses of the 1980s -- 3. '80s Middle-Class Workplaces -- 4. Schools from the Bottom Up -- 5. Feeling Better about Medical Buildings -- 6. Plans and Curses in Downtown Austin -- 7. Tower Tops in Dallas -- 8. Public Housing and Welfare -- 9. Solana, the Electronic Hacienda -- 10. The Dallas Arts District: The Last Ditch -- 11. Creating More Perfect Landscapes, '80s Style -- 12. Saving the Kimbell for Philadelphia -- 13. Coda.

Summary:

The ritual of real estate dominated the spiritual life of Texas for a decade, a ritual based on the mythic premise that developers function as divinely ordained princes who bring prosperity to the whole of society. In the early years of the '80s Texas cities sprouted new skylines that showed off the stylistic explorations of some of the country's leading designers. By the end of the decade scores of new projects stood vacant. They were see-through buildings, towering.
Symbols of the collapsing economy of a state that had for a time seemed to embody the nation's vitality. Once a promising architectural laboratory, the landscape had become a study in blighted expectations. Joel Barna incisively reveals the links between architecture, economics, and contemporary American beliefs. Interweaving his analysis with more than 120 black-and-white photographs and 50 drawings, he scrutinizes the RepublicBank Center in Houston, the Allied Bank.
Tower in Dallas, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, and many other structures. Texas's architecture and urban growth not only form a physical record of the boom and bust of the decade; they point beyond the borders of the state to trends and developments that will affect the country into the next century. This is a book not just about Texas, but about our future.

Resources:
Table of contents

ISBN:

0892633166
9780892633166

Subject:

Commercial buildings Texas.
Architecture Texas History 20th century.
Immeubles commerciaux Texas.
Architecture Texas 20e siècle.
Architecture Texas Histoire 20e siècle.
Architecture
Commercial buildings
Economic history
Texas Economic conditions.
Texas Conditions économiques.
Texas
Geschichte 1981-1991

Form/genre:

History

Added entries:

BlackmonWintersKuhner.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 92355
Call No.: ID:93-B640
Status: Available