'Booming Houston & The Modern House'

At Houstonist, we enjoy a good mid-century modern house. So we're really excited about Booming Houston & The Modern House: The Residential Architecture of Neuhaus & Taylor. Neuhaus & Taylor was one of Houston's premier architectural firms in the 1960s and '70s — their designs include the "Taj Mahal," the former HISD headquarters building on Richmond Avenue (which probably won't be around much longer), Galleria I and the towers of Cullen Center downtown. You may not know their residential work — but you should. To quote architectural historian Ben Koush:

Neuhaus & Taylor's work was imbued with a sense of casual ease yet still maintained a strong allegiance to Miesian principles and design elements. It is intriguing to see the confidence with which they presented their rigorous and disciplined houses as the solution to the problems of postwar suburban living.

Koush, architect William F. Stern, architectural historian Stephen Fox and Taylor's former wife, Cynthia Rowan Taylor, will kick off the exhibition events with a panel discussion of the firm's work at 7 p.m. tonight in the University of St. Thomas' Jones Hall. The exhibition itself opens at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the AIA Houston office, 3000 Richmond Ave., Suite 500 (it runs though Oct. 1). Admission to both the discussion and exhibition are free.