Architecture creates cool drive-through education moments for your family. (I was going to say “drive-by” but that sounded dangerous.)
Anna co-hosted with me recently so we could come up with some ideas to encourage parents who are tapping their fingernails in anxiety about how (or whether) schools open this fall.
Do thoughts of homeschooling prompt a craving for a refreshing adult beverage? What if education could be as easy as picking up dinner in a drive-through window?
In fact, educating with architecture is easy-peasy and oh-so-fun! (For easy, spontaneous homeschooling ideas and lesson plans, click here.)
Summer is a great time to point out architecture while you tell the stories of family and faith in your region. Buildings tell the American story in visually dramatic ways. Take our hometown, downtown Tyler, Texas for instance.
Mid-Century Modern Resurgence
Mid-century modern has become the thing everyone likes now. But when I was growing up, nobody wanted it. Our local courthouse is a prime example. In my childhood, people were grieving the destruction of the classic courthouse built in 1851 as Tyler’s first brick structure.
By the 1970s, folks resented the clean lines of the new modern courthouse built in 1954 just over a hundred years after the first one. People talked of tearing down the new courthouse and building something beautiful in its place.
But as Anna pointed out, “New is not always better.”
I don’t know if the current courthouse will survive our county government’s growing demand for updated space. But, as young leaders take their place in civic discussions I expect sentiment to grow for preserving our courthouse’s mid-century modern beauty.
Architecture: Down Home Drive Through Education
In downtowns all across America, buildings tell the story of our country’s development throughout the 1800s and 1900s. So much history easily enjoyed from the air-conditioned comfort of a car!
If you live in Tyler, I suggest you plan to grab a picnic or frozen treats to-go from one of the many new restaurants gracing our downtown. (For more on how to raise history-loving kids, click here.)
Two blocks from the courthouse, the Carnegie Library was established with a grant in 1903. Until the early 1960s, African Americans borrowed books unofficially at a back door. That’s a story worth telling, but finding it in public records is still a challenge. (If anyone wants to send me the research I couldn’t find today, I will happily add it to a blog soon. For more African American impact on our region, click here.)
Nearby historic churches fill in more of the region’s history. Marvin United Methodist’s beautiful building, filled with stained glass windows, was built in 1890. First Baptist Church’s current building was constructed in 1913, after two fires destroyed buildings in 1855 and 1859. (For more Tyler history, click here.)
Architecture: Buildings Interacting with People
In another great example of architectural genius, our family enjoys what we dubbed the most glamorous building in downtown Tyler, the Peoples Petroleum Building. Built in 1932, it was Tyler’s first skyscraper. At fourteen stories high, it was a marvel of modern technology smack dab in the nation’s oil boom. What a great excuse to talk about how the oil industry is one important reason we won WWII.
The building could easily be compared to a grand Southern beauty. Granite walls grace the art deco design throughout the building, elegantly restored by folks who respect her history.
Right next door is the Plaza Tower, which some locals lovingly refer to as the Star Wars building. Plaza Tower made its debut in1969, less than a decade before the movie (1977) that changed everyone’s idea of action fantasy films forever.
Covered in modern black glass, the powerful structure dominates downtown Tyler. It represents the best of its era when fast-paced, bold changes were reshaping American society for the better. (For more on how racial injustice can be peacefully addressed, click here.)
The Plaza Tower presides over downtown’s Butler Square, named for an enterprising newspaper family. There every spring, local musicians hold free concerts as folks gather for picnic lunches and live music until Texas heat drives everyone indoors.
Architecture, Kids and Driving Through Town
As you drive by, simply asking good questions can prompt a terrific conversation. What hints do you get about what was happening when that building was built? How did that era inspire the architect? What do you notice about the building’s design?
We also like frontier towns and living history villages for prompting our kids’ imagination. What did farmers use before the tractor? Why were there ceiling fans in every room? Where did the dogs sleep at night? What dangers existed for frontier families?
Local Brick Tells the Story
Anna can’t wait to teach her children the history of the red clay around East Texas and the industry that developed as a result.
“Our house is built out of orange brick. I love my orange brick,” she says. Her brick is an unusual shape and size and has a lovely, unexpected texture designed into each brick.
“Even if it didn’t have all those aspects, the reason I would love it is because it (the brick) was made in Corsicana, just down the road.” Anna’s brick opens up a simple way to spark her kids’ interest in local architecture. (For more on raising creative kids who love science, click here.)
“I have locally sourced brick all over my house, which is so much fun to me.” The buildings tell the stories of the people society which built them. (For raising kids who love stories and writing, click here.)
Texas History told in Architecture, Granite, and Sculpture
“When we were kids you used to tell me that we had the prettiest state capital because of the pink granite,” says Anna. She’ll expand her story-telling with her kids to include sourcing the capital’s pink granite (1882-89). What boy could resist history that involves digging and horse-drawn wagons, without trucks (1896), and backhoes (1947)?
Then, too, our state capital contains a pair of famous sculptures of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, by trail-blazing female sculptor Elizabet Ney. (For more about our beautiful state capital click here.) Plus, any Texas State buildings invite hilarious stories of outrageous Texas politicians, always a highlight of any Texas history lesson. Actually, people are a very good reason to love the buildings that house our stories.
Our Favorite Architects
Anna picks Antoni Gaudi of Barcelona fame as her favorite architect. Gaudi gets our need to connect with our surroundings, according to Anna.
“He could easily be a painter, or a sculptor, or to me a musician: Gaudi. I’m sure there’s all this structural science behind his work, but I just love the way looks. If you’re ever in Barcelona, his stuff is everywhere,” Anna reports. (For more of her thoughts about Gaudi’s impact and his genius, click here for the podcast.)
My favorite unofficial “architect” is a local friend who hand wrought his own house, a marvelous creation that always reminds me of a walk-in sculpture. He also gave me a prized sculpture created by one of a group of extremely famous artists.
I wanted to share the whole story of my sculpture, but I saved room for one of my favorite “architecture” stories about my grandparents’ house below. To find out who sculpted my beautiful masterpiece, though, you can listen in to the podcast found here or above. I’m pretty sure the kids will fight over my sculpture when I’m gone. (To sign up for our weekly FREE blog, click here.)
Architecture, Furniture, Family Stories and No Air-Conditioning
Walking through the living room triggers stories tied to architecture and furniture. For example, the beautiful little cedar trunk in Anna’s entry hall once held all Mema’s worldly possessions.
My mom grew up in a small Texas cottage built in the early 1900s. Their Fort Worth pier and beam house only had a bedroom for her parents. Until they added on, their first child slept in the family room with her clothes in the trunk at the end of her bed.
“I’ve been told that story my whole life. Based on that one piece of furniture, I know what kind of house my grandmother grew up in,” says Anna. And lots more about her great-grandparents. I remember that cottage well from my early childhood.
My grandparents also told stories from prohibition about the police coming to their house and knocking on the door. When the door opened, the smell of hops gave away my grandparents’ home-brewed, bathtub beer.
When Texas temperature began to rise, the beer bottles began blowing their corks. Beer ran down the fronts of all the kitchen cabinets where Meme and Grandaddy hid their stash.
Memories and Claw-foot Bathtubs
As a child, I bathed in that big claw-footed bathtub. I guess I was a pretty grimy kid because I never understood how you could drink a beverage made in that tub.
“You know the history I learned as a kid from that story. I learned when prohibition was and the fact that they didn’t have air-conditioning during that era,” Anna reports. “Because if they’d had air-conditioning the bottles wouldn’t have pressurized and exploded and the police wouldn’t have come.”
Called to a gunfight, the policemen were relieved when the crisis turned out to be exploding beer. Off-duty, the police came back later for a brew. Wild times in Texas.
Staying Cool
One thing our family always liked about that story was the way my grandparents stayed cool and invited the police in for a little hospitality.
“In junior high or high school when I got that American history book and I learned about prohibition, I already knew that word,” Anna says. “When they started talking about the mobs and how some of the organized crime arose in the big cities during prohibition, I totally followed all of that because of that family history story, which was based on architecture and a piece of furniture in my house.”
My grandparents were hard-working people, not gangsters, just to clarify. Plus, they made most of the luxury items they ever had, including beer during prohibition apparently. My mother’s graduations from college marked a milestone for her family.
“If all you ever read is national history, it’s hard to connect to as a child,” says Anna. “But if you hear some of your family stories or the local stories about the local courthouse, then when you hear the national stories, there’s a segue, a connection.”
Well, apparently air-conditioning is a connecting theme for me today, especially since its a hundred degrees outside. Thank you for reading to the end and for chuckling with me about our family’s antics.
Please know how much we love and appreciate YOU! Anna and I hope you, too, stay cool and find ways to bless people with open hearts, hopefully without any exploding beer!
May we pray together?
Dear Father, open our eyes and hearts to see how blessed we truly are. Give us grateful hearts, blessed by sharing with each other. Teach us to honor You in all our words and actions. As we drive through our towns and cities, remind us to be grateful and pray for our leaders. We love You, O Lord, our true King. In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.
We LOVE to hear from YOU!
What is your favorite building and why? When you look around your hometown, what do you see? What history lesson changed your life? Where are the buildings that house your family stories?
Coming Soon
Big announcement: a Series with People who Write Devotionals!! Some of my favorite young authors join me to talk truth with a capital T, including Brooke Frick and Lindsey Bell. Author and mathematics genius, Dr. Angie Ruark graces the show soon, too!
You will love these rising stars in the publishing world. Their faith, wisdom, and devotion to God and family inspire me so much!
Plus, Sarah Van Hook joins me soon. Talk about inspiring! So you won’t miss a thing, sign up for our stuff here. It’s all free and fun to pass on to your friends!
Cathy Krafve, Columnist, Speaker, Blogger, Podcaster, and Christian Writer, invites your stories, ideas, and questions at CathyKrafve.com. Truth with a Texas Twang.
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