Menil Campus & Montrose Mansions

Montrose

Pair the Menil Collection and Rothko Chapel with two grand early 1900s mansions nearby.

4 stops · 0.8 mi

1. 1
   

   1987 · Late Modern

   The Menil Collection

   • Locally Recognized

   Completed in 1987 and designed by celebrated Italian architect Renzo Piano, the Menil Collection introduced an innovative system of curved ferrocement roof 'leaves' engineered to filter Houston's intense sunlight into soft, diffused natural light for the museum's galleries. Commissioned by art patrons John and Dominique de Menil to house their extensive collection of surrealist, tribal, and modern art, the museum anchors a distinctive low-rise campus of preserved gray bungalows in Houston's Montrose neighborhood, all painted the same signature gray at the de Menils' direction. The building's understated cypress-clad exterior and human scale contrast deliberately with the flashy commercial towers of downtown, reflecting the de Menils' vision of a quiet, contemplative art environment. The Menil campus has since expanded to include the Cy Twombly Gallery, the Menil Drawing Institute, and other structures, but Piano's original building remains its architectural centerpiece.

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2. 2
   

   1971 · Late Modern

   Rothko Chapel

   • National Historic Landmark

   Completed in 1971 through the joint design efforts of Philip Johnson, Howard Barnstone, and Eugene Aubry, the Rothko Chapel was commissioned by art patrons John and Dominique de Menil as a non-denominational sacred space to house fourteen large scale canvases created specifically for the building by painter Mark Rothko. The octagonal brick chapel became an internationally recognized site for contemplation, interfaith dialogue, and human rights advocacy, hosting figures such as the Dalai Lama and serving as a venue for the annual Oscar Romero Award. In 2001 it was designated a National Historic Landmark, remarkably becoming one of the youngest buildings ever to receive that distinction given its relatively recent construction. The chapel and its adjacent reflecting pool, home to Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk sculpture, remain a quiet architectural counterpoint to Houston's dense urban core, drawing visitors from around the world.

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3. 3
   

   1912 · Neoclassical

   Link-Lee House

   • NRHP
   • City Landmark
   • Recorded Texas Historic Landmark

   Built in 1912 by the Young Contracting Company to designs by Sanguinet, Staats & Barnes, the Link-Lee House was the home of John Wiley Link, a lawyer, lumberman and former mayor of Orange, Texas, who moved to Houston in 1910 anticipating growth from the oil industry. Link developed the Montrose subdivision and placed his own house on Block 41, fronting the newly paved Montrose Boulevard at West Alabama Street, as the showpiece of the neighborhood. The house was later owned by oilman Thomas Peter Lee, and the two names together identify it today. A monumental portico fronts the brick building, which is richly ornamented in terra cotta. Now the executive office of the University of St. Thomas, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 and became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2001. It is one of the few surviving grand early mansions that recall Montrose's origins as an elite residential suburb.

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4. 4
   

   1923 · Classical Revival

   Fondren Mansion (La Colombe d'Or)

   • Recorded Texas Historic Landmark

   The Fondren Mansion was built in 1923 for Walter W. Fondren, a founder of Humble Oil, and his wife Ella. Designed by Houston architect Alfred C. Finn, the red brick Classical Revival house with its monumental two story portico is one of the grandest surviving residences of Houston's oil era elite. Since 1979 the mansion has operated as La Colombe d'Or, a small luxury hotel, preserving the house and its gardens while giving the public access to the interior. The estate is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and remains a landmark along Montrose Boulevard, one of the few great houses to survive the street's transformation from a residential boulevard to a commercial corridor.

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