AIA Houston Historic Resources Committee Speaker Series w/Margaret Culbertson: Houses by the Book

Join AIA Houston Historic Resources Committee Speaker Series (Virtual)
Thursday, March 18, 2021, 6 pm
Virtual Zoom
$10 General Admission

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Houses by the Book
by, Margaret Culbertson

House designs published in books, magazines, and catalogs significantly influenced domestic architecture in the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Homeowners, carpenters, contractors, developers, and architects took advantage of the unprecedented variety of designs that were produced nationally and regionally during this period and created distinctive and noteworthy houses across the state. These design sources can be used today in a variety of ways to accurately document and restore historic houses. Margaret Culbertson will present an overview of their historic production and use and their role in current preservation and restoration. She will demonstrate how they have been used to support National Registry nominations and to determine the original appearance and later changes in house designs and materials. In addition to these case studies, she will provide guidance on locating relevant historic publications available online in digitized form.   She will utilize new research from her recently published Waxahachie Architecture Guidebook (TCU Press, 2020), coauthored with Ellen Beasley, and her earlier book Texas Houses Built by the Book (Texas A&M Press, 1999), which received awards from the San Antonio Conservation Society and the Art Libraries Society of North America.

Margaret Culbertson is the director of the Powell Library, Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and project director of Bayou Bend’s William J. Hill Texas Artisans & Artists Archive. Prior to joining the MFAH she served as Head of the William R. Jenkins Architecture and Art Library at the University of Houston and Rare Books Librarian at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston. In addition to her book Texas Houses Built by the Book: The Use of Published Designs, 1850-1925 (Texas A&M Press, 1999) she has published articles about historic architecture and design for Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Texas and Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas. Her most recent publication, Waxahachie Architecture Guidebook  (TCU Press), was released in January 2021.

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