Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1225773
H ouston's most i c o n o c l a s t i c a r c h i t e c t o f the buoyant, booming post- war years was i n c o n t e s t a b l y Arthur Moss. But mention his name today in design circles, and you'll get a blank stare. Drop the words Penguin Arms — Upper Kirby's beloved mid- century apartment building, soon to be restored by owners Pam Kuhl- Linscomb and Dan Linscomb — and the response will be warm and enthusiastic. PaperCity's architectural editor, Robert Morris, examines the surviving legacy of the late architect. Moss, we learn, belonged to The American School, where a band of stylistic talents, in the organic tradition of Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff, challenged traditional building norms, voyaging way behind the classic curtain wall of Bauhaus and modernist antecedents to forge structures bearing elements of Tiki and nods to the medieval tucked in. ON THE TRAIL OF A PHANTOM I discovered the buildings of phantom architect Arthur Moss not long after moving to Houston in April 1972. I relocated from Austin to work for the architecture/engineering firm CRS (Caudill Rowlett Scott) at 1111 West Loop South. I found a place to live Arthur Moss inspects construction of the DeLefosse House, San Leon, Texas, circa 1957-1958. WHO WAS ARCHITECT THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, EQUAL PARTS SPACE AGE AND STONE AGE, LIVES IN THE WORK OF ARTHUR MOSS. BY ROBERT MORRIS. PHOTOGRAPHY BENJAMIN HILL. ARTHUR MOSS COURTESY THE MOSS FAMILY ARCHIVES, HOUSTON 62