Robbie Mahtook, Lafayette attorney and owner of A. Hays Town home, originally owned and built by Horace Rickey.While in Louisiana this spring to study the residential architecture of A. Hays Town, Texas architect Steve Chambers spent several days in Lafayette, Louisiana. Chambers visited the home of Robert and Judy Mahtook, located between the ULL campus and the Oil Center. The home was originally built by the Oil Center contractor, Horace Rickey, for his own family. It was one of the first homes in the city designed by A. Hays Town. The original home of Maurice Heymann, developer of the Oil Center, was also designed by Town and gifted to the university by the family and is incorporated into the campus buildings of ULL. The Heymann home predates the Mahtook home. A comparison of the two homes demonstrates A. Hays Town’s gradual evolution from French Norman with International modern influences (The Heymann Home) to his distinctive embrace of the Louisiana folk vernacular (The Mahtook Home).

Lafayette is located in south central Louisiana and serves as an economic center in Louisiana. The region's legendary joie de vivre and Cajun and Creole cultures create a unique environment for work and play. A recent issue of Southern Business and Development magazine named Lafayette as a Top 10 place in the South for the "creative class," citing Lafayette's risk-taking spirit and technological advantages. Lafayette has one of the most robust economic infrastructures in the country: a flourishing petroleum industry, a well-trained workforce, unmatched quality of life, and a favorable environment for their business community. There are many colorful festivals celebrating food, wine, music, and “letting the good times roll.”The Mahtook Home demonstrates the distinctive Louisiana vernacular style developed by Hays Town

Mr. Town often commented that his measurement and documentation of the historical buildings for the government throughout the South aided him greatly in the development of his particular style of home design based on Louisiana folk architecture. Moving back to Louisiana in 1939, Town started his own architectural firm in Baton Rouge. Eventually, he designed a home for a friend and liked it so well that he began to concentrate on residential design, which seemed "a more satisfactory outlet" for his talents.

Town’s 70-year residential design career provides us with an exemplary model in which to study the evolution of 20th-century American architecture, which spanned from the domination of Beaux Arts formal design, through European Modernism, to a period where areas of American society became appreciative of their own regional influences. A. Hays Town’s remarkable talent and logic enabled him to assimilate a wide variety of influences from his education and early career as well as those presented to him through his recording the historical examples within his region. It contributes both to an understanding of the potential use of vernacular traditions in general, and specifically, those of the rich architecture of Louisiana's captivating history.

The Maurice Heymann Homestead, on the campus of ULL, represents an earlier Town design with its French Norman and modern International Style influencesHis earlier home designs borrowed from American Colonial and Georgian architectural styles. As his career progressed, he began developing a more unique style influenced heavily by Louisiana’s Spanish and French architecture. Interior courtyards and fountains reflect the Spanish tradition, while raised exterior stairs and French doors reflect the Creole influence of New Orleans. He also adapted his home designs to the climate of southern Louisiana with the implementation of large roof overhangs, the abundance of breezeways, and cross-ventilation for air circulation.

Town's involvement in the selection of interior materials, colors, and even furnishings was extensive, going as far as to recommend a certain type of dog to accent the house. Town was one of the first architects to salvage old building materials and incorporate them into new houses, giving his homes a comfortable, well-worn elegant feel. He would often search abandoned warehouses and rice mills for floorboards, fireplace mantels, or flagstone, handpicking the individual elements that would eventually be incorporated into his architecture.Judy Mahtook enjoys the deep roof overhangs on Town's porches that allow for more comfort in the intense humidity of Louisiana's climate

The Mahtook Home demonstrates all of the mature design decisions that came to define the A. Hays Town style. The construction, materials, proportions, and details all reflect his regional influences from climate to folk culture and create his distinctive aesthetic expression. It is confidently related to the preservation and creation of this intriguing region and its beguiling cultural identity. Robbie and Judy Mahtook both concur when asked how it feels to live in this historical residence, “we feel an immense pride, yet a strong responsibility, to maintain very careful stewardship of this home. We want the house to be a place where we and our children can live and entertain guests, but we also want to honor the legacy of this gifted man and his beautiful architecture.” Steve Chambers, a Texas architect, admires the depth of respect the Mahtooks have for their home and the lengths to which they are going to protect this cultural treasure for the Lafayette community, currently and for future generations.

In the first gallery, below, the A. Hays Town design for the Heymann Home shows the influences of French Norman and modern International Style of the 1930's in its details and proportions.

In the second gallery, below, The Mahtook Home demonstrates the Town evolution from French and modern international style influences to implementation of the Louisiana folk vernacular with its deep porches, breezeways, recycled materials, Hays-designed light fixtures and drapery. The drapes were double-sided with the more 'plain folk' pattern turned to the street and the elaborate hand-dyed patterns facing the interior of the home's living area. Lush landscape utilizes indigenous plant materials in a more casual pattern rather than a formal French garden. The family room has a simple stair from the upper floor 'garconnier' as opposed to a grand stair in the entry.

Moss-covered archway, elegantly using decay as a decorative elementSteve Chambers, AIA, had the good fortune to meet and interview A. Hays Town, Jr. on a recent trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where many of the homes designed by A. Hays Town can be found. A. Hays Town, Jr. and his wife, Gay, are the current residents of the home where A. Hays Town, Sr. lived, had his studio, and experimented with the development of his unique regional residential architectural style. In Gay and Hays Jr., we discover a gracious and welcoming couple eager to share our enthusiasm for the life and practice of Hays Town, a master architect who defined and elevated the Louisiana vernacular to an art form. “Come on in!,” is the accommodating welcome. “I thought you might come with them,” Gay says to my brother, Greg Moroux Lafayette attorney, who arranged our visit. Greg recently met the Towns at a brunch honoring the children adopted from their much-praised agency, the St. Elizabeth Foundation, established by the descendents of A. Hays Town. Steve is a Texas architect who recognizes that there is much to be learned about his own career path when one gathers insight on the trajectory of well-known regional architects. Chambers admires Town’s sensitivity to historic design, his harmonious integration of the indigenous environment, his collaboration with clients in the design process, and the way he educated potential clients about what constitutes elegant design. Sometimes Town walked away from substantial fees, when there was no ‘chemistry’ in their relationship.Unpretentious front elevation to the Hays homestead

A walk through the home, studio, and various related outbuildings provides an intimate entree into the creative process and sensibilities of Hays Town. We unearth his deep connection to the site and region of this rich culture. The origins of his distinct style are all here: experimentation with ‘benign neglect, incorporating the effects of aging, mold, algae, and mildew; the implementation of discarded materials from churches, abandoned warehouses, department stores, and mills; considerations and adaptations particular to the Louisiana climate; the creative application of indigenous plant materials as a fundamental component to the overall conceptual design; and use of the distinctive Louisiana vernacular that he studied as a worker for the government, when he measured and documented homes across the South during the Depression. “We changed these kitchen floors,” Town, Jr. announces as we enter the back of the main house. “Originally, Daddy used vinyl tile. He didn’t think he could afford the flagstone usually specified and selected by his clients.”

Former home studio for A. Hays TownMany things about Town’s life are well-known. A. Hays Town was born in Crowley Louisiana on June 17, 1903. He was an American architect whose career spanned over sixty-five years. He died at the age of 101, still practicing well into his 90s. While Town designed many commercial and governmental buildings in the style of modern architecture for the first forty years of his career, he made a sharp turn in the 1960s to limit his practice to residential architecture. He preferred the deep personal relationships and hands-on involvement that are inherent in the process of designing homes. His designs were heavily influenced by the Spanish, French, and Creole cultures of Louisiana. These are the things we expected to learn on this trip to the A. Hays Town homestead. What we didn’t expect was the unpretentiousness, authenticity, and celebration of the natural cycle of birth, decline, and renewal. A. Hays Town expressed these qualities in the creation of this style of regional architecture. A. Hays, Jr. manifested these same characteristics in his role as engineer and master builder of his dad’s designs and continues this legacy in the adoption agency he founded and his current efforts to preserve the quality of the Baton Rouge groundwater. The similarities to the rebirth and renewal rites of spring in the observance of Easter do not escape us. Nor does a strong sense of stewardship for the environment in his early efforts at sustainability, which we will address in this multiple-part series on regionalism.

Next article on Hays Town: Living in an A. Hays Town Home in Lafayette, Louisiana

In the gallery below, L-R, Steve Chambers and A. Hays Town Jr.; rooms of the the home: living, dining, study; porch and back of the house; outer buildings: 1970s addition and architect studio (the Spanish Room, a home office for client meetings); tool shed and workshop; backhouse for children and grandchildren attending LSU; pigeonnier (French pigeon roost); garden and home details showing signs of 'benign neglect.'

In gallery below, L-R, details of the home and garden: shutter detail, wood and brick facade detail; stair to garconnier at back of mainhouse; eaves of guesthouse; porch ceiling on front of mainhouse; flagstone patio; flagstone kitchen floor; reclaimed pine floor with beeswax finish; recycled shutters as door to pantry; reclaimed wood in studio ceiling; kitchen ceiling and lighting detail made by Town with rusted steel to reflect light; back of tool shed; arched transom at former architectural studio. 

Conceptual sketch for a new home by Steve Chambers, AIA, that incorporates a restored 19th century timber frame Dutch barn into the designBecause barns are by their nature utilitarian structures, many present a contemporary appearance, with a basic geometry that is absent superficial adornment. Their resulting profiles are bold, particularly when juxtaposed with other buildings and create an interplay of slashing shadows throughout the day. When integrating historic barns with his newer designs, Texas architect Steve Chambers, works to remain sensitive to the original character of the early structure. “Our firm’s objective for the end result is to allow the original structure to ‘take center stage,’ rather than disguising it with distracting elements. The simple geometry and detail of the early Texas built environment is elegant and refreshing. The three-dimensional massing, planes, proportions, relationships and materials allow us to use these early Texas forms in our designs, regardless of our clients’ leanings toward traditional or modern residential architecture," says Steve Chambers, AIA.

Where adornments do occur on barns, they are often purposeful. Consequently, their simple geometry is easily connected, conjoined, and contrasted with either traditional or contemporary residential architecture. Successful barn conversions to residences require a respect for the integrity of the features that give these original structures their character. It’s tempting to impose clever devices in place of the earlier vocabulary of the structure. But, architects experienced in the vernacular from which barns derive their personality and sense of place, are able to keep the narrative of the design honest and authentic. “We keep what makes the barn ‘a barn’ and show how it originally worked as one,” says Chambers. “In our designs for new barns, we respect what the setting and topography of the land informs their design and that of a new adjoining ranch home to be.”

A "monitor" style 'Party Barn' for a second home on an East Texas lake provides extended entertainment and kitchen spaces for guests of the homeThroughout American history, farmers have built barns to shelter livestock and store their harvest. A vast variety of barn styles can be seen throughout the United States, each design adapted for unique weather conditions and cultural traditions. A steeply peaked roof, for example, is usually seen in regions with considerable snowfall, since the weight of snow stresses the roof and can collapse a barn.

In the hotter, more humid South, steeply pitched roofs capture heat. So while they’ll still have a slope to shed rain and snow, more southerly barns have variations for ventilation such as the airy ‘monitor’ barns that move air from floor to ceiling through the vents. American farmers also built their barns with aesthetics in mind. While barns are functional by design, appearances distinctive to a region provide identity to the regional farmlands on which they stand. Certain barn styles have become synonymous with particular parts of the country; they comprise an important portion of the historic built environment of an area’s agricultural past and often inspire present and future design decisions.

Dressage horse barn, located on ranch in West Texas, where dressage horses are bred and trained

In gallery below, L-R, are examples of basic barn geometry. First two photos are barns in Switzerland, where weather and snow dictate steeper roofs. Often, these homes are attached to barns, consolidating energy and reducing exposure to the elements for both ranchers and animals. The black and white sketches and photos are from the book, Pioneer Texas Buildings: A Geometry Lesson by Clovis Heimsath (University of Texas Press, 1968). They illustrate the forms that define the Texas regional vernacular. Next, the sketches and photos of barns designed by Texas architect, Steve Chambers AIA, located in East Texas, North Texas, and in the Hill Country. The final barn is the Ploughshare living classroom, where lessons in sustainable lifestyle, gardening and farming are taught at Homestead Heritage Village near Waco Texas.

Watercolor by Steve Chambers of the Flatiron Building in NYC, completed in art classes at Texas Tech in 1966Julius Comroe described serendipity this way: to look for a needle in a haystack and get out of it with the farmer's daughter. When I was about to graduate from high school, my grand tour “college visitation” was to drive with my dad to one Texas architecture school, Texas Tech. It was not the school, just a school we thought I might like. I walked around a bit and then my dad said, “what do you think, Steve?” I said, “looks good to me. How do I enroll?” College visitations are not done this way anymore, but neither is the education of an architect. As we take a last glance at Geneva, I am reminded of my serendipitous Beaux-Arts education. It was the equivalent of getting the farmer's daughter, when my aspirations were to somehow just find a way to make a living at what I loved.

There is so much Beaux-Arts architecture in Switzerland, every visitor must ask himself at some point, “what is this? It feels as though it should be important to me in some way.” Beaux-Arts is characterized by ornate ornamentation that is based on the classical elements of Greek and Roman architecture made popular in Europe in the mid to late 19th century. It is the manifestation of the historical elements of eclectic design on a monumental scale as taught in the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in the 19th Century. Many American architects studied in Paris, as there were no true schools of architecture in the United States until the American post-Civil War period. Many of these American architects were strongly influenced by the classical elements that were stressed in French architectural schools. At the time, some of the more practical architects mocked this style for its grandness and the pretentiousness in homes and public buildings that it spawned. The Arts and Crafts movement, with streamlined forms and clean lines, was a backlash to it. Today the style is seen as a legitimate architectural genre and expressive of the period it was widely employed in America and Europe.Ink sketch by Steve Chambers of the Palladio Bridge in Bassano del Grappa on visit to Veneto Region in 2010

But, buildings in this style of architecture are not what my education was about. It was about being schooled under the Beaux-Arts method and that is what transformed me from a high school student who needed a job to a design professional and a student of the world. All who are schooled in the Beaux-Arts tradition are required to prove their skills with color theory and basic drawing tasks before advancing to figure drawing, painting, and sculpture. A well-rounded curriculum of architectural courses, as well as the history of architecture and furniture and interior design are included in this style of intensive across-the-arts architectural training. Students are required to study the classical arts, with modern additions to the curriculum that now include photography and contemporary media. The program was not for the faint of heart. Of the 300 students that began my five-year program, only 18 remained to graduate with me.

Sculpture by Steve Chambers cast in bronze in sculpture class at Texas Tech University in 1965What I still carry with me from the program today is a vigorous appreciation for how all that I learned, the arts and the skills, inform my architecture and design. I like to think that edifices edify all of us: structures can acculturate, acquaint, advance, cultivate, educate, elevate, enlighten, ennoble, enrich, ethicize, move forward, humanize, idealize, improve, indoctrinate, instruct, polish, reclaim, refine, sophisticate, spiritualize, tame, uplift...and, ultimately, remain to transform our landscape, within and without.

I still stash my sketch pad and charcoal pencils in a backpack to take with me on all of our trips, inside and outside the U.S. It's become part of the journey to understand what's there and what it can teach.

In gallery below, L-R: Architectural illustration exercises completed by Steve Chambers of Classical Design in Architcture History classes in architecture school at Texas Tech, in situ sketches on location in Italy and Spain, colored sketches for home design for Stephen B. Chambers Architects, Inc.

The Zytglogge clock tower, a medieval landmark of Bern's Old Town, filled with row houses, fountains, and arcadesOur clients highly recommend that we see Bern before leaving Switzerland. We purchase tickets and board the train the next day. We have no idea that we are about to see a model medieval city that incorporates the amenities of modern life and design. On the train ride northeast into the German-speaking region of Switzerland, we see spectacular views of the Jura mountains, quaint villages where homes are built into the ends of barns housing livestock, and hillsides of grape vines in the snow.

In the time between the fall of the Roman Empire and beginning of the Renaissance, the era known as the Dark Ages, economies were rooted in agriculture and the feudal system was used to create order. Merchants and craftsmen formed guilds to strengthen their social and economic position; wars were created by rivaling feudal lords. Early medieval towns were dominated by a church, monastery, or castle of lords. For protective measures, towns were sited on irregular terrain, occupying hilltops or islands and had informal and irregular development. Church plazas evolved into market places, where roads radiated away from the plazas to city gates, then to secondary lateral roadways connecting them. Castles used surrounding walls and moats as protective elements. Irregular planning patterns in layout confused enemies, as they were unfamiliar with villages. Pedestrian traffic used the streets; wheeled vehicles were restricted to main roads.The Ryfflibrunner Fountain, depicting the hero with the bear, the symbol of Bern

The city of Bern is an exceptionally clear example of medieval town planning. Despite changes that may have occurred over the course of its history, many original structures remain intact. It is rightfully designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Surrounded on three sides by the startling green waters of the Aare River, it is readily seen that medieval urban settings can adapt to meet the requirements of modern capital cities. Bern’s cityscape, shaped initially by its compact medieval rows of houses, now includes arcades, cellars, fountains, elegant and imposing government/administrative buildings, intricate public transportation, and an impressive skyline of structures that colorfully dot the sloping hills beyond its city center.

The Zytglogge is the landmark medieval clock tower in the Old City. It is one of the three oldest clocks in Switzerland that have existed since the early 13th century. Its name translates literally to “time bell.” During the second half of the 13th century, the Nydegg Castle was strengthened and connected to a new west city wall to protect four streets known as “Savoy City.’ The new west wall included a gate known as Kafigturm (prison tower). In the 14th century, a third wall and tower Christoffelturm (St. Christopher Tower) was built to protect the growing population and six new streets. The bell towers feature mechanical figures which include a rooster, knight, piper, lion, and bears which put on a show. ‘In the day,’ small crowds always gathered to wait for the show to begin.

A view through the Vennerbrunnen Fountain shows the battered (sloped) walls of the medieval Old TownThere are over 100 public fountains in the city of which eleven are crowned with Renaissance allegorical statues. The fountains were originally built as the public water supply. There is a blindfolded female figure holding the sword of truth called the Justice Fountain; figures of the Pope, the Sultan, the Kaiser, the Emperor, and the Mayor are placed at her feet.  Other fountains feature a Banner Carrier, Moses bringing the Ten Commandments to the Tribes of Israel, Samson killing a lion, a hero in armor with a Bear Statue at his feet, an Ogre statue called Kindlifresserbrunnen (“child eater”) to scare disobedient children, and the Anna Seiler fountain, memorializing the founder of Bern’s first hospital in 1354.

The beauty of this World Heritage Site is that it provides the visitor with an example of how a thriving, functional modern city can co-exist with much of its original medieval infrastructure. It elevates our understanding of sensitive, sustainable planning and design.

Photography credit: Stephanie Chambers. In the first gallery, below L-R: an aerial view of Bern (from Wikipedia); an example of the complexity of modern and medieval infrastructure working harmoniously; two photos of pedestrian plazas; two photos of preserved building facades; the Meret-Oppenheim-Brunnen (fountain); frozen drinking fountain; two photos of Beaux-Arts Kunst Museum; door to Kunst Museum; interior arch of Kunst; lunch in modern cafe; modern addition to Kunst Museum; Steve talking to cafe owner; central police station; homes along the hillside of the Aare River, opposite the Old Town. 

Second gallery, L-R: Steve staying warm in train platform glass shelter; on the train; the Jura Mountains; chalet; photos of villages along the way, including Fribourg; #8 is a home built at the end of a large barn; rivers and villages in the northwest Swiss landscape; vineyards and villages along Lake Geneva.