Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1493307
WINN MORTON, Dallas (1928- 2022): The king of rhinestones and feathers is heralded for his 35-year run as costume and set designer for Tyler's Texas Rose Festival. Morton's extraordinary trajectory was launched as a child in Lancaster, Texas, where he took lessons from Texas Regionalist painter Alexandre Hogue. After a brief stint at SMU, Morton gave in to his obsession with the circus and attended the Ringling School of Art. His next stop was NYC for Parsons School of Design and work on TV and Broadway productions. He was called back to Texas by Six Flags Show Productions before ending his career with a flourish in Tyler. Read more on Winn Morton, page 82. NASA JOHNSON SPACE CENTER MISSION CONTROL, Houston (1961, restored 2019): The Apollo 11 spaceflight that landed the first humans on the moon on July 20, 1969, was overseen by this iconic command station at NASA Johnson Space Center. However, when the room was finally decommissioned, heavy visitor traffic took its toll. Stern and Bucek Architects returned Mission Control to its "The Eagle has landed" appearance in time for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, down to ashtrays behind each seat in the observation room. HUGO V. NEUHAUS JR. (1915- 1987): This elite gentleman architect, by virtue of his patrician family connections, educational background, and civic and religious stewardship, was perfectly situated to influence the Houston establishment to choose understated yet elegant dwellings over ostentatious monuments to themselves. Neuhaus had been introduced to the discipline of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe by Philip Johnson, a former classmate at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. NORTHPARK CENTER, Dallas (1965; expanded 1975, 2006): Developer Raymond Nasher commissioned Dallas architect E.G. Hamilton to design a temple of retail both timeless and ordered — and worthy of an art pilgrimage. Besides providing retail space in a building conceived as a piece of sculpture, NorthPark Center promotes culture, reserving its corridors and courts for installations of world-class works from The Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Collection of Contemporary Art, with additional loans from the Nasher Sculpture Center, including pieces by KAWS, Mimmo Paladino, Leo Villareal, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, and Mark di Suvero. Mark di Suvero's Ad Astra, 2005, at NorthPark Center KERMIT OLIVER SCARVES (1984): In 1984, Waco-based Kermit Oliver — whose day job was U.S. Post Office mail sorter — became the only American to design scarfs for the acclaimed French company Hermès. Over the next 32 years, he designed 16 more scarves. Dr. Alvia Wardlaw, curator of the artist's 2005 retrospective at the MFAH, noted that, "The love of flora and fauna you see in Kermit's art began in that childhood where he was free to roam around Refugio … His visual sensibility with regards to the Texas landscape was borne out of those youthful experiences." PHILLIPS HOUSE, Austin (1964): The Phillips House at MLK Jr. Boulevard and Maple Avenue exemplifies the mid-century modern design prowess of John S. Chase, the first Black licensed architect in Texas and the first Black student to graduate from what was then The University of Texas Department of Architecture. Designed for East Austin businesswoman and famed JOHN ASTIN PERKINS, Dallas (1907-1999): The architect/interior designer's career spanned a half century, but it was during the 1960s and 1970s that he helped create the now-classic "Dallas Look," injecting traditional interiors with bright, irreverent color and an abundance of accessories and fine antiques bespeaking wealth, world travel, and sophistication. An aesthete who lived with great style himself, he convinced clients that the adventurous and racy was the epitome of chic. Perkins conjured fully decorated homes for new money (oil) and old money (banking and cattle) alike, and once explained to a client that the difference between treillage and trellis was spelled "M-O-N-E-Y." PENGUIN ARMS, Houston (1950): Arthur Moss' Penguin Arms Apartments, still extant at 2902 Revere Street, is one of the nation's best surviving examples of Googie architecture, and is an emblematic calling card for its modernist American School architect, Houston- based Arthur Moss (1926-1995), who designed the Penguin when he was 24 years old. The once-threatened structure was purchased by Dan Linscomb and Pam Kuhl-Linscomb in 2012 and is being restored. BENJAMIN HILL PHOTOGRAPHY (Continued) 75 TEXAS DESIGN ICONS Winn Morton's sketch for Texas Rose Festival, 2014 74