O'Neil Ford, architect / Mary Carolyn Hollers George ; foreword by Hugh A. Stubbins ; color photographs by W. Eugene George.

Author
George, Mary Carolyn Hollers [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Εdition
1st ed.
Published/​Created
College Station : Texas A & M University Press, ©1992.
Description
xiii, 273 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm.

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Marquand Library - Remote Storage (ReCAP): Marquand Library Use OnlyNA737.F65 G467 1992 Browse related items Request
    ReCAP - Remote StorageNA737.F65 G467 1992 Browse related items Request

      Details

      Subject(s)
      Photographer
      Series
      Summary note
      "Himself designated a National Historical Landmark by the National Council on the Arts, O'Neil Ford with his associates designed some of the most famous architectural landmarks in Texas and elsewhere in the nation: the Texas Instruments Semiconductor Building in Dallas, the Little Chapel in the Woods at Texas Woman's University, campuses of the University of Texas at San Antonio, Skidmore College in New York, and Trinity University, San Antonio. The list of credits goes on and on for this remarkable architect who brought an indigenous Southwestern flair to homes, public buildings, and businesses. From the mid-1930s until his death in 1982, Ford was a pied piper for young architects, and the message he piped was always the same: sensitivity to the nature of materials the earth provided; concern for timelessness and the performance of a building over the long haul; adaptability to changing needs; and innovative approaches to budgetary constraints. In short, he advocated and practiced the building of structures that are expressions of something real and lasting. With 36 full-color photographs and 124 black-and-white pictures, this volume lavishly illustrates his vision and his legacy. O'Neil Ford was controversial, paradoxical, contradictory. No one who knew him or his work was lukewarm about him. Nor was he lukewarm about others. In his world there were only heroes and villains; the villains were the Vulgarians. Ford, long considered a leader of the Modern movement in the Southwest, was grieved by the concept of architecture as a product of superficial fashion with current "vocabularies" and design by stylish formulae. Now, in the "post-Post-Modern" epoch, his words again ring fresh and true, and his culturally well-grounded architecture inspires anew. Through extensive interviews with Ford and scores of others and using Ford's diaries (1951-82), Mary Carolyn Hollers George has traced Ford's life and work, as well as the cast of characters who peopled his world. His close, and eventually prominent, friends contributed immensely not only to his own development but to the artistic milieu of a budding Southwestern regionalism. Also part of the mix were the young architects who flowed through Ford's office, being inculcated with his ways of dealing with materials and his belief in the unity of structural and architectural forms, and who are still influencing the design understandings of today." -- Front jacket flap copy.
      Bibliographic references
      Includes bibliographical references (p. 258-260) and index.
      Contents
      • From Pea Ridge to Pink Hill, 1905-17
      • Thr Crisis Years, 1917-24
      • Manual Training and Shakespeare, 1924-26
      • Apprenticeship with Dave Williams, 1926-32
      • The Deepening Depression, 1932-36
      • Acclaim, 1936-39
      • Along the San Antonio River, 1939-45
      • Connections, 1946-51
      • The Big Time, 1955-55
      • Technology Triumphs, 1956-59
      • Heroes and Villains, 1960-64
      • Too Many Irons in the Fire, 1965-69
      • The Apotheosis of O'Neil Ford, 1970-82
      • The Finale
      ISBN
      • 0890964335 ((alk. paper))
      • 9780890964330 ((alk. paper))
      LCCN
      91021193
      OCLC
      23975799
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