Garden Dialogues 2014: Houston
On Sunday, March 16, get exclusive access to private gardens and landscapes in Houston and hear directly from the designers and their clients about their collaborative process.
How do clients and designers work together? What makes for a great, enduring collaboration? Garden Dialogues provides unique opportunities for small groups to visit some of today’s most beautiful gardens created by some of the most accomplished designers currently in practice.
This event is now complete.
Sunday, March 16th, 10:30am to 12:00pm | Houston
Selden Straus House
Keiji Asakura, (host)
Nestled within 25 heavily-wooded acres in the heart of the city, this Modernist home is occupied by its original owner, Mrs. Marjorie Selden Milby. In 1951 J.T. Rather, Jr. of Staub and Rather Architects designed the house, grounds and interiors with ample input from Mrs. Milby. Famed Modernist landscape architect Tommy Church visited in the 1950s and paid it a very high compliment –he saw nothing he thought should be changed. Over the years, notable horticulturalists including Lynn Lowery, John Teas and Charles Tapley have been involved with the property, but it retains its original design intent. more photos
Photo by Gail Hartz
Sunday, March 16th, 1:30 to 2:30pm | Houston
River Oaks Modernist Estate
Gail Hartz,
Hidden behind a privet and azalea hedge on a busy thoroughfare in River Oaks is a remarkable mid-20th century International Style brick home by Houston architect Hugo Victor Neuhaus Jr. and grounds by Houston landscape architect C.C. “Pat” Fleming, in collaboration with Neuhaus. As part of the home’s recent restoration, Gail Hartz is expanding the outdoor living areas and garden, while remaining faithful to the original Fleming design. more photos
Photo courtesy The Office of James Burnett
Sunday, March 16th, 3:30 to 4:30pm | Houston
Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion at Rice University
Chip Trageser and Andrew Albers, , with Stephen Fox, Architectural Historian, Anchorage Foundation of Texas
Rice’s Central Quadrangle has been transformed into the university’s social center, with the addition of 6,000-square-foot Brochstein Pavilion by architect Thomas Phifer & Partners and a 10,000-square-foot covered outdoor terrace and garden by the Office of James Burnett. The terrace is covered with decomposed granite and planted with a grid of 48 Allée lacebark elms. Two low, linear fountains define the space under the canopy and movable seating accommodates impromptu gatherings of students and faculty. Additional plantings of live oaks and improved pedestrian paths reinforce the existing framework of the Quadrangle and the campus’s Beaux Arts plan. more photos