The architectural history of Texas spans more than 300 years of European settlement and 10,000 years of habitation by native peoples. The incredibly diverse natural landscape and equally varied built environment has produced an architectural heritage of national and international stature. This book, the first of two volumes devoted to the Lone Star State, covers the central, southern, and Gulf Coast regions (the earliest areas of Spanish and Anglo settlement and the majority of the counties that won independence from Mexico in 1836) and includes four major cities--Austin, Corpus Christi, Houston, and San Antonio. The authors consider the contributions made by various cultures--Native American, Spanish, Mexican, Anglo, African American, German, Czech, Polish, and Italian--to the state's rich architectural heritage. More than 1,000 building entries canvass the most important and representative examples of Spanish missions, log cabins, German stone houses, Victorian courthouses, Moderne stores, contemporary ranch houses, modern skyscrapers, postmodern retail strips, and incursions by internationally renowned architects. With the burgeoning interest in heritage tourism, this in-depth guide--enlivened by 351 illustrations and 50 maps--will satisfy the curiosity of both local and out-of-state visitors, bringing new energy to the state's promising preservation movement.

Gerald Moorhead, FAIA, is an award-winning Houston architect, former contributing editor to Architectural Record and Texas Architect, documentary photographer for HABS/HAER and three editions of the Houston Architecture Guide, and Lecturer on Preservation at Rice University. James W. Steely is a Senior Historian/Architectural Historian with SWCA Environmental Consultants and the author of Parks for Texas: Enduring Landscapes of the New Deal. W. Dwayne Jones worked for the Texas Historical Commission and is the Executive Director of the Galveston Historical Foundation. Anna Mod, a Historic Preservation Specialist with SWCA Environmental Consultants in Houston and Visiting Associate Professor at Prairie View A&M University, is the author of Building Modern Houston. John C. Ferguson has taught at Trinity University and the School of Architecture, University of Texas at Arlington, and contributed to AIA guides to New Orleans and San Antonio. Cheryl Caldwell Ferguson is the author of the forthcoming volume Highland Park and River Oaks: The Origins of Garden Suburban Community Planning in Texas. Mario L. Sánchez is a historical architect with the Texas Department of Transportation and the coeditor of A Shared Experience: The History, Architecture, and Historic Designations of the Lower Rio Grande Heritage Corridor. Stephen Fox is a Fellow of the Anchorage Foundation of Texas.