Eugene Edwards Aubry (born November 15, 1935) is an American architect, based primarily in Houston, Texas and later in Orlando, Florida.Stephen Fox and Eugene Aubry
''Born on the Island: The Galveston We Remember''
Texas A&M University Press, 2012. Accessed April 16, 2019.Jacqui Shine

''The New York Times'', August 23, 2017. Accessed April 12, 2019. He is best known for the public buildings and houses he designed and co-designed in Houston, notably the Rice Museum (known locally as the "Art Barn") at Rice UniversityMark Lamster
"Modernism under threat in Texas and beyond,"
''The Dallas Morning News'', Archives, 2014. Accessed April 12, 2019. and the Alfred C. Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Art Houston"The MFAH: An Architectural History,"
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, About MFAH. Accessed April 12, 2019. (both no longer standing), the

Rothko Chapel The Rothko Chapel is a non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas, founded by John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art: on its walls are fourteen paintings by Mark Rothko in v ...

, and

Wortham Center Wortham Center may refer to: * Wortham Theater Center The Wortham Theater Center is a performing arts center located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The Wortham Theater Center, designed by Eugene Aubry of Morris Architects, was bui ...

.Buildings by Morris Aubry Architects
Houston Architecture. Accessed April 12, 2019.Mark Lamster
"Glassell School of Art,"
'Architect Magazine'', August 8, 2018. Accessed April 12, 2019. Architecture writers credit the Art Barn's industrial aesthetic with inspiring Houston's so-called "Tin House" movement, as well adaptations by

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considered ...

.Molly Glentzer and Heather Alexander, "Rice University to demolish historic art 'Barn,'" ''Houston Chronicle'', March 5, 2014.Ben Koush
"Housey-House,"
''Texas Architect'', January/February 2019. Accessed April 12, 2019. Aubry was partners with two other well-known Houston architects, Howard Barnstone and S.I. Morris, and worked on projects with

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the pos ...

before starting his own firm, Aubry Architects in Sarasota, Florida in 1986.Diane Cowen
"Houston Launched Career-of Complicated Architect,"
''Houston Chronicle'', December 21, 2018. Accessed April 12, 2019.Peter H. Frank

''The New York Times'', July 5, 1986. Accessed April 12, 2019. He completed the Rothko Chapel after artist

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...

clashed with Johnson, who was the original architect.Oscar Lopez
"Rothko Chapel / Philip Johnson, Howard Barnstone, Eugene Aubry,"
Arch Daily, AD Classics, September 14, 2011. Accessed April 12, 2019.

Life

Aubry was born Eugene Edwards Aubry in 1935 in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

to Frank J. and Christine C. (Anderson) Aubry. He originally intended to study music, but was dissuaded by his father and pursued architecture at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

. He studied there with Howard Barnstone, then a partner in the firm Bolton & Barnstone and one of Houston´s most publicized modern architects.Peter Applebome
" "Howard Barnstone 64 Dies, Texas Architect and Author,"
''The New York Times'', February 5, 1987. Accessed April 12, 2019. Aubry worked in Houston within and as a partner in several firms until 1985, when he moved to Anna Maria, Florida, where he continued as an architect and also served as a city commissioner.Ryan Paice
"Former AM commissioner aims criticism at city pier project,"
''The Islander'', January 29, 2019. Accessed April 16, 2019.

Career

Aubry worked part-time at Bolton & Barnstone in 1959, before joining full-time after completing his studies in 1960; he was a partner at the renamed Barnstone and Aubry from 1966-1970.Stephen Fox, "Howard Barnstone 1923–1987," ''Cite'', Fall 1987, pp. 18–21.Stephen Fox
Barnstone, Howard
Texas State Historical Association, Articles. Accessed April 17, 2019. Aubry worked with Barnstone on public buildings and houses, largely in Houston and Galveston. Their public buildings include the Art Barn and Rice Media Center at Rice University (1969–1970) and Guinan Hall (1971, part of Phillip Johnson's modernist campus design for the University of St. Thomas) in Houston,"Rice Museum and Media Center,"
Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019."University of St. Thomas,"
Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. as well as the San Luis Hotel and Condominium on Seawall Boulevard and Galveston News Building (1965) in Galveston. Aubry worked with S.I. Morris, as a partner in Wilson, Morris, Crain & Anderson (1970-1980) and Morris/Aubry Architects (1980-1986). The firm designed several well-known buildings in Houston, including: the 49-story First City Tower (1981), the 1301 Fannin building (1984),1301 Fannin
Emporis, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. the Alley Theatre Center (1984),Alley Theater Center
Emporis, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. the 52-story Continental Center I (1984), and

(1987).Gus S. Wortham Theater Center
Emporis, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. The firm also designed the postmodern, tiered Bank of America Center (1987) skyscraper and duPont Centre in Orlando."Bank of America Center,"
Emporis, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019.Steven Brown
"Houston Tips Hat to the Arts with a King-Sized Complex,"
''Orlando Sentinel'', November 5, 1987. Accessed April 23, 2019 In the 1980s, an economic slump hit the oil industry, severely curtailing Houston construction projects. The Morris/Aubry staff ultimately shrunk to 100 from 300, and Aubry left the partnership and Houston, starting a smaller firm, Aubry Architects, in Sarasota in 1986, which later merged with PGAL Architects.The Remington
Emporis, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. His projects there include the Richland Library in Richland County, South Carolina (1993), The Remington, a concrete high-rise in Naples, Florida (1996), and the

Selby Public Library The Selby Public Library was the first library in Sarasota County, Florida and was established in 1907. The current building is the largest public library in Sarasota County and serves the downtown district of Sarasota, Florida. History The Selby ...

in Sarasota, Florida (1998).

Notable projects

Aubry worked on notable projects throughout his career, independently, and with Johnson, Barnstone, and Morris.

Barnstone and Aubry projects

Aubry's work with Barnstone in the 1960s moved away from the latter's Mies van der Rohe-influenced, precisionist approach toward more complex design schemes that admitted historical, vernacular and "New Brutalism" influences (e.g., the Galveston News Building, 1965); architectural historian Stephen Fox noted the work for its sense of "delight, spontaneity, and anti-pretentious expediency." Writers identify their houses—including the Maher (1964), Bell (1969), Kempner (1969) houses and Vassar Place Apartments (1965, featured in ''Architectural Record'')"Vassar Place Apartments,"
Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019. in Houston and the Levin House in Galveston (1969)—as among their most notable structures. They describe them as "architecturally introverted" designs that incorporated intimacy, anonymity and solemnity, with self-effacing exteriors that open "internally with high ceilings, simple planar walls, and dramatic expanses of glass." The Maher House was featured in ''Architectural Record'' in 1965 and later included in book, ''25 Years of Record Houses''."The Maher House
" Houston Mod, Buildings. Accessed April 16, 2019.Herbert L. Smith, Jr
''25 Years of Record Houses''
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984. Accessed April 17, 2019. Stephen Fox described the house's dramatic steel and glass living-dining room, which some suggest seemed to float among the trees, as possibly the "most awe-inspiring architectural feat for a private residence" in 1960s Houston. The Art Barn at Rice University, a corrugated-iron, tension-cable-supported structure was built in 1969; its adjacent companion, the more abstract Rice Media Center, was built a year later."Rice University to Demolish Former Menil Museum Godfather of the Tin House Movement Real Soon,"
swamplot, February 24, 2014. Accessed April 12, 2019. Area architecture writers suggest the buildings played an instrumental role in the development of Houston’s arts community and its architectural history, inspiring the “Tin House” aesthetic that some consider Houston’s only self-created architectural statement for the 20th century. They were commissioned by art collectors, Dominique and John De Menil, as an urgent, temporary solution to their need for a building to house a large art show coming from New York’s Museum of Modern Art, “The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age.” According to Aubry, "We literally sketched it on a pad—there were never any plans. It was built in 10 weeks." The building opened just in time for the March 1969 exhibit, which was attended by thirty-thousand viewers; it remained in use for over 40 years. Critics suggest that the de Menils' support for its style provided a cultural legitimacy that paved the way for emulation by Tin House architects, who embraced its industrial aesthetic and exterior cladding, jutting angles and asymmetrical composition, and elegantly simple rectangular plan and proportions, which recalled a style of vernacular Gulf Coast house.

Rothko Chapel

Aubry took over the design of the nondenominational Rothko Chapel after Philip Johnson and Rothko clashed over their distinctive ideas for the building.Molly Glentzer
"48-year conundrum may finally be solved at Rothko Chapel,"
''Houston Chronicle'', April 10, 2019 Accessed April 16, 2019. Rothko believed the monumentality of Johnson’s plan distracted from the artwork. It went through several revisions, first with Howard Barnstone, until he became ill, and then with Aubry, who completed the project in 1971. The windowless, brick-octagon, skylit final design was intended to create an unadorned place of contemplation, centered on Rothko's 14 minimal, abstract expressionist canvasses. Unfortunately, Rothko did not live to see the chapel’s completion due to his suicide in 1970.

Morris/Aubry Architects projects

Morris/Aubry Architects, based in Houston, designed projects there and throughout the United States, including in Austin, Denver, Oklahoma City, Nashville, New Orleans, and Galveston.Morris-Aubry Architects
Emporis, Companies. Accessed April 16, 2019. Two of their most well-known buildings in Houston are the Wortham Center and the Alfred C. Glassell School of Art.Wortham Theater Center
Downtown Houston, Event Venues. Accessed April 16, 2019.Laura C. Mallonee
"Houston Museum Expansion Wipes Out Local Architect’s Legacy,"
Hyperallergic, January 21, 2015. Accessed April 12, 2019. The dark-red granite Wortham Center serves as a performing arts venue and community center housing two theaters and is home to the

Houston Ballet Houston Ballet, operated by Houston Ballet Foundation, is a professional ballet company based in Houston, Texas. The company, consisting of 59 dancers, produces over 85 performances per year. History Tatiana Semenova (1955–1967) Houston dev ...

and

Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at ...

. The two-story, concrete-and-glass-block Glassell School of Art was commissioned by the Museum of Fine Art Houston to serve as the new (and first) home for its school of art in order to accommodate a growing student body. The 42,000-square-foot building's modernist plan was drawn up by Aubry and R. Nolen Willis. The rectangular, practical design emulated a warehouse, with exterior materials that reduced heat and filtered sunlight. Mark Lamster called it "a tour-de-force of reflective glass block." The Glassell School of Art opened to the public on January 13, 1979. It was replaced by a new building, designed by Steven Holl Architects in 2014.

Legacy

Writers suggest that Aubry's greatest legacy is the influence that the Art Barn has had on Houston's Tin House movement and the role his buildings (e.g., the Glassell School of Art) have played in the history of Houston’s arts community. In 2014, however, both buildings were demolished by officials citing expanding needs or high renovation costs; both events generated public outcry from the local architecture, arts, and historical preservationist communities. Regarding the Glassell building's replacement, Stephen Fox observed, “For the museum to sacrifice its own architectural heritage bespeaks an institutional tendency, prevalent in Houston, to discount existing architecture and sweep it away.” Aubry himself sought to preserve the area's architectural legacy with his work on the book, ''Born on the Island: The Galveston We Remember'', commissioned by the Galveston Historical Foundation''Born on the Island: The Galveston We Remember,''
Texas A&M University Press, Books. Accessed April 12, 2019. Aubry contributed sixty-seven watercolors and drawings (with text by Stephen Fox), intended to capture and enhance the visual and historical record of the buildings and the unique local architectural style of the Texas gulf city where he was born.Sandy Ambrogi
"Celebrating Selby: Library imagined by local architect turns 20,"
''The Islander'', August 29, 2018. Accessed April 23, 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aubry, Gene 20th-century American architects 1935 births Living people