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View this post on Instagram Howard Barnstone was born in Auburn, Maine, in 1923. He was educated at Yale, where he received both a bachelor's and master's degree. After service in the Army in World War II, he moved to Houston, Texas in 1948 to teach at the University of Houston and began a career as an architect and author. Mr. Barnstone was perhaps best known nationally for the Rothko Chapel, the windowless, brick octagon he designed with Eugene Aubry to house a collection of 14 dark, powerful canvases by the late artist Mark Rothko. He was the recipient of numerous architectural awards and was one of the few fellows of the American Institute of Architecture to be admitted in three disciplines: design, literature and teaching. He died of an apparent suicide when he was 64 years old. His funeral service was held in 1987 at the Rothko Chapel with many of the most prominent members of the city's art and architecture community in attendance. ''Houston is more beautiful because of what he built and what he taught,'' Marguerite Barnes, a friend, said in a eulogy. ''His buildings had a very special quality - you respond to them in a very intuitive way,'' said Stephen Fox, an architectural historian here. ''They had a wonderful kind of literally sensational quality. You felt an experience of well-being just walking through the spaces.'' His later works were more diverse still, and included an interest in historic restoration and early-20th-century architecture. As a writer, Mr. Barnstone published ''The Galveston That Was,'' illustrated by Henri Cartier-Bresson, which helped spur the restoration of the Texas city with the oldest architectural heritage. #jewishmaine #markrothko #howardbarnstone #rothkochapel #architect #auburnmaine @rothko_chapel A post shared by Documenting Maine Jewry (@mainejewishhistory) on Apr 3, 2019 at 8:50am PDT
Howard Barnstone was born in Auburn, Maine, in 1923. He was educated at Yale, where he received both a bachelor's and master's degree. After service in the Army in World War II, he moved to Houston, Texas in 1948 to teach at the University of Houston and began a career as an architect and author. Mr. Barnstone was perhaps best known nationally for the Rothko Chapel, the windowless, brick octagon he designed with Eugene Aubry to house a collection of 14 dark, powerful canvases by the late artist Mark Rothko. He was the recipient of numerous architectural awards and was one of the few fellows of the American Institute of Architecture to be admitted in three disciplines: design, literature and teaching. He died of an apparent suicide when he was 64 years old. His funeral service was held in 1987 at the Rothko Chapel with many of the most prominent members of the city's art and architecture community in attendance. ''Houston is more beautiful because of what he built and what he taught,'' Marguerite Barnes, a friend, said in a eulogy. ''His buildings had a very special quality - you respond to them in a very intuitive way,'' said Stephen Fox, an architectural historian here. ''They had a wonderful kind of literally sensational quality. You felt an experience of well-being just walking through the spaces.'' His later works were more diverse still, and included an interest in historic restoration and early-20th-century architecture. As a writer, Mr. Barnstone published ''The Galveston That Was,'' illustrated by Henri Cartier-Bresson, which helped spur the restoration of the Texas city with the oldest architectural heritage. #jewishmaine #markrothko #howardbarnstone #rothkochapel #architect #auburnmaine @rothko_chapel
A post shared by Documenting Maine Jewry (@mainejewishhistory) on Apr 3, 2019 at 8:50am PDT