University of St. Thomas/Menil Architecture Walk

Please note that advance ticket purchase is required for this tour.

The University of St. Thomas broke with tradition when it hired the modernist architect Philip Johnson to design its new campus in 1956. And though Johnson took inspiration for his buildings at UST from the contemporary designs of Mies van der Rohe, his campus plan was influenced by something much older: Thomas Jefferson's 1818 design for the University of Virginia.

Our 90-minute docent-guided walking tour focuses on the development of the university's campus and the buildings of the adjacent Menil campus, which include Eugene Aubry's recently restored Rothko Chapel and Renzo Piano's Menil Collection and Twombly Gallery. We'll also visit Hughes House, the boyhood home of Howard Hughes Jr., and Johnson's Chapel of St. Basil at the University of St. Thomas, one of the most distinctive worship spaces in Houston.

This is an exterior architecture tour only. The tour will not go inside any buildings. There are no public restrooms along the tour route.

Photo: Rothko Chapel (1971, Howard Barnstone and Eugene Aubry) / © Elizabeth Felicella

About the tour

Advance ticket purchase is required for the tour; tickets are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. We will not be able to accommodate walk-ups on the day of the tour. There are no refunds for tour tickets.

Registrants will receive parking and check-in information via e-mail.

In the event of inclement weather that prevents the tour from being offered as planned, we will notify registrants as far in advance as possible about their options to attend a rescheduled tour or transfer their reservations to another Preservation Houston tour.

Do you have an Architecture Walks pass?

If you have joined Preservation Houston and received a pass for a free Architecture Walk, you may redeem the pass for admission to this tour. E-mail tours@preservationhouston.org and we'll be happy to help.

Passes are redeemable subject to ticket availability.