Bayou Bend

John F. Staub designed the house, with Birdsall P. Briscoe as associate architect, and it was built between 1926 and 1928 for about $217,000. It is tile block finished in pink stucco under a raised-seam copper roof, with a double-height Tuscan portico facing a terraced lawn that steps down toward the Diana Garden and the bayou. Ima Hogg called its mix of English Regency and American Southern models "Latin Colonial" and thought it right for Houston. Ruth London designed the East Garden with her, and Fleming and Sheppard laid out the north terrace and Diana Garden.

What the plaque says

Bayou Bend American heritage collection in mansion built 1927 by William Clifford (1875-1930), Ima (b. 1882), and Mike Hogg (1885-1941), children of first native Texan Governor James Stephen Hogg (1851-1906) and his wife Sarah Stinson. Will Hogg, attorney and businessman, originator of a student loan program in numerous Texas colleges, 1914-16 chairman of Board of Regents of the University of Texas, developed River Oaks, where Buffalo Bayou makes noted bend. Mike Hogg, Texas legislator (1927-31), joined sister in establishing at the University of Texas the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. Miss Ima Hogg founded (1913) the Houston Symphony and (1929) Child Guidance Center of Houston; also served 1943-49 on Houston School board; engaged in restoration and preservation, creating Varner-Hogg State Park in West Columbia and Winedale Inn complex in Fayette County. Miss Hogg and her brothers used their home in its 14-acre setting of natural beauty to house paintings and American memorabilia, entertaining national and international personages. their collections span three centuries, from about 1650, filling 19 rooms. In 1957 Miss Hogg gave Bayou Bend, its park, and its treasures to the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Menil Collection — 1.9 mi
  John and Dominique de Menil's free museum in Montrose: a grey-sided Renzo Piano building among bungalows, holding antiquities, Surrealism and art of Oceania under natural light.
• Rothko Chapel — 2.0 mi
  An octagonal chapel open to all faiths, built by the de Menils around fourteen dark canvases by Mark Rothko, with Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk standing in the pool outside.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston — 2.9 mi
  The oldest art museum in Texas, grown from a 1900 schoolroom art league into a campus of Watkin, Mies van der Rohe and later buildings, with Ima Hogg's Bayou Bend up the bayou.
• Sam Houston Park and the Heritage Society — 2.9 mi
  Ten historic buildings gathered in a downtown park below the skyscrapers, among them the 1870 house of the Reverend Jack Yates, built five years after emancipation.

More markers nearby

• St. Thomas High School — 0.8 mi
• Camp Logan — 0.9 mi
• Brown Chapel A. M. E. Church — 1.8 mi
• Edwin Fairfax Gray — 2.1 mi