The Menil Collection
For some four decades John and Dominique de Menil
energetically amassed a collection of art, internationally
admired for its quality, depth, and eclecticism. Surviving
her husband by 25 years, Dominique de Menil pursued
their shared dream of creating a museum to house their art,
and in 1987 again chose a young architect, the Italian
Renzo Piano. The Menil Collection was his first American
commission. Like Johnson, Piano would win the Pritzker
Prize, the Nobel Prize of architecture, and go on to a
distinguished international career. The museum building
Piano created is considered a masterwork, praised for its
attention to natural light, its modesty, intimacy, and
sophistication. Piano’s building observes the scale
introduced by Johnson at St. Thomas, and extends it west
across the Menil campus to the architecture of other Menil
Collection structures: the Cy Twombly Gallery (1995), the
Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum (1997), Richmond Hall,
a Dan Flavin Installation housed in what was one of
derives from Johnson’s original design for the Academic
Mall, which he conceived as a modern interpretation of
Thomas Jefferson’s design plan for the “Academic Village”
at the heart of the University of
Virginia. Down the long quadrangle
are buildings that house the classrooms, laboratories and other scholarly activities of the University.
Each year St. Thomas opens its
doors to thousands of visitors who
attend free lectures, concerts, plays,
and exhibitions in buildings that
line the mall.
Four decades after its first buildings, Johnson’s Academic
Mall was completed, and his widely praised design for the
Chapel of St. Basil anchors the Mall’s north end. In 2004,
Johnson created a third project for St. Thomas, which was
also one of his final designs: the new University landmark
at the corner of Montrose and West Alabama that rises on
the Edward P. White Memorial Plaza, named in memory of
one of the University’s most dedicated benefactors.
George Hixson
Other sites of architectural interest include the University’s
award-winning Campus Life Mall (2005), where students
socialize, study, and reflect in its various plazas and gardens;
the ornate Link-Lee Mansion (1912), on the National
Register of Historic Places; the boyhood home of Howard
Hughes (1918); and a number of delightful gardens as well
as the replica of the Chartres Cathedral Labyrinth in France.
The Menil Collection
Houston’s early grocery store buildings (1934); and, around
the museum grounds, the important collection of outdoor
sculptures illustrated and described on the map. By the de
Menils’ wish, the museum is open free to the public and
presents a yearly calendar of exhibitions, lectures, music
and film events, all of which are also free. The Menil
Collection and its campus are cherished as a local
sanctuary and as a global destination. It is considered one
of the world’s great museums.
University of St. Thomas
Founded by the Basilian Fathers in 1947, the University of
St. Thomas is Houston’s only Catholic university and continues to build on its national reputation for academic
excellence. The architectural character of the campus
1515 Sul Ross • Houston, Texas 77006
Tel: 713-525-9400 • www.menil.org
Museum Hours:
Wednesday – Sunday, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
Open free of charge • Parking at 1515 West Alabama
University of St. Thomas
3800 Montrose Boulevard • Houston, Texas 77006
713-522-7911 • www.stthom.edu
Call 1-800-856-8565 or email [email protected]
for visitation days planned just for perspective students.
Visit our Web site to find out about campus events,
including Mass in the Chapel of St. Basil.
WALKING TOUR
The Menil–St. Thomas Quarter
HOUSTON MUSEUM DISTRICT
Distinguished by their art and architecture,
the contiguous campuses of The Menil
Collection and the University of St. Thomas
form the northern gateway to Houston’s
Museum District. This walking tour will lead
you to key architectural and historic highlights
of The Menil-St. Thomas Quarter.
The Menil–St. Thomas Connection
John and Dominique de Menil, the founders of The Menil Collection, were also early benefactors and
longtime friends of the University of St. Thomas. Known internationally as patrons of the arts, educators,
advocates of human rights, and generous donors, they were important formative influences in the history
of the University.
In 1941, John de Menil and his wife, Dominique Schlumberger de Menil, left war-torn France and settled
in Houston to advance the family business founded by her father and uncle–Schlumberger, Ltd, which
would become one of the world’s great oilfield services companies. In 1948, when they chose beginning
New York architect Philip Johnson to build their home–it was Houston’s first modern residence–it started
Johnson’s long Texas career and augured the de Menils’ openness to the new.
Soon afterwards, when the young and growing University of St. Thomas
sought an architect, the de Menils recommended Johnson. His plan for the
school’s Academic Mall–two-story buildings, connected by walkways around a
central lawn–established the scale and elegant restraint that has since
characterized the architecture of The Menil–St. Thomas Quarter. The de
Menils liked the interplay of Johnson’s buildings and quiet, inner-city
Houston. In this neighborhood of bungalows and tree-shaded streets, they
would build the Rothko Chapel (1971), and later, their museum and the other
art buildings.
Dominique de Menil and Philip Johnson, November 9, 1949
BROCHURE PHOTO CREDITS
The Menil Collection: Hickey-Robertson unless otherwise indicated.
University of St. Thomas: Office of Publications
Art, Education & Architecture
The Menil–St. Thomas Quarter
HOUSTON MUSEUM DISTRICT
Chapel of St. Basil
West Alabama
White Memorial Plaza
12
11
3
Sul Ross
1
10
9
4
Menil
Park
Campus
Life Mall
The Rothko Chapel
Mulberr
y
Man
dell
Mall
Academic
2
Link-Lee Mansion
13
Yupon
The Menil Collection
•
5
14
Hughes House
Branard
Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum
A Cultural Gem
in the Heart of Houston
The Menil–St. Thomas Quarter is nestled
7
Graustark
from downtown. Joined by a rich history and
a mutual appreciation of art, education and
8
architecture, The Menil Collection and the
Mt. Vernon
in the Houston Museum District just minutes
Loretto
Park
Hackett
Athletic
Field
Yoakum
6
West Main
trose
Mon
Cy Twombly Gallery
Colquitt
University of St. Thomas partner to offer the
Loretto
beauty of this neighborhood oasis to citizens
of the local community and the world.
Dan Flavin Installation At Richmond Hall
Richmond
University of St. Thomas Campus
The Menil Collection Campus
Paul Hester
Paul Hester
Paul Warchol
The Menil Collection
Outdoor Sculptures
1 “Isolated Mass/Circumflex (#2)”
University of St. Thomas
Points of Interest
9 Earthman Garden
2 “Charmstone”
10 University Seal Plaza
3 “Jack”
11 Samfield Study Garden
4 “Bygones”
12 Felicie Babin Gueymard
Memorial Garden and Labyrinth
5 “Broken Obelisk”
6 “The Elevens Are Up”
The Menil Collection
Renzo Piano. 1987
The Rothko Chapel
Philip Johnson and
Howard Barnstone. 1971
Cy Twombly Gallery
Renzo Piano. 1995
Byzantine Fresco Chapel
Museum François de Menil.
1997
Dan Flavin Installation
At Richmond Hall. Joseph
Finger and Anthony E.
Frederick. 1996
7 “Wall”
8 “New Piece”
13 Edward A. Stumpf II Memorial
Plaza
14 Douglas Meredith McDugald
Meditation Garden
Academic Mall . Philip
Johnson. 1958-2001
Chapel of St. Basil.
Philip Johnson/Hall
Merriman. 1997
Link-Lee Mansion.
Sanguinet, Staats
& Barnes. 1912
Edward P. White Memorial
Plaza. Philip Johnson/
Turner. 2007
Howard R. Hughes House
William Ward Watkin. 1918