April 3, 2014. 9 photos.
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This week, “The Good Eye” visited the recently restored mid-century modern Starr Building. Originally built in 1954 to house the American National Bank, it integrated the latest modern principles in its architecture, furnishings, art, and technology – including Austin’s first set of escalators.Back to column. -
Artist Seymour Fogel was apprenticed to Diego Rivera in the Thirties and executed a series of WPA murals before his later turn to abstract modernism. When the building was in danger of being torn down after years of vacancy in 2006, the mural was in danger too.Back to column. -
Fogel, who taught at UT from 1946-59, executed a number of murals in Austin, Waco, and Houston. These are considered the first abstract modernist murals in the state. A mural of similar size he painted for the Houston Petroleum Club in 1950 was destroyed when the Rice Hotel building was converted to condos in 2002.Back to column. -
Architect Riley Triggs’s lecture “How Mid-Century Modern Came to Austin” emphasized that home-grown talents flourished in Austin’s intellectual and creative atmosphere. While the brightest talents left to receive training in the international style, many returned home to put a unique spin on what they had learned.Back to column. -
Mid-century modern valued “volume over mass” – light, open, transparent spaces over heavy, monumental bulk – and eschewed ornament.Back to column. -
“Balance over symmetry” was another important principle of mid-century modernism.Back to column. -
The flagship tenant of the building is now McGarrah Jessee, an ad agency which handles Texas brands such as Shiner Bock and Whataburger.Back to column. -
The McGarrah Jessee conference room is a monument to beer.Back to column. -
Though vast, the scale of the lobby doesn’t feel intimidating. Instead, it seems designed to mimic the night sky, inviting the outdoors in. Look at that Texas sky.Back to column.