A forward-thinking Ohio artist, Marian Koogler McNay, provided her San Antonio home, art collection, and considerable endowment to establish the first modern art museum in Texas. Her Spanish Colonial Revival house designed in 1927 by the renowned architect,Atlee Ayres, became its core. Today, the meticulously preserved original structure includes additions by O’Neill Ford and a recently completed strikingly modern wing designed by Jean-Paul Viguier.

The McNay provides us with a successful model of how a structure can grow over time through the visions of various architects and still remain honest, expressive, and relevant. Each addition reveals the character and period of its implementation while maintaining overall integrity and function as a repository of significant modern art, a world-class theater arts library, and an educational facility. We must also give credit to the forward-thinking community of San Antonio for embracing these sensitive additions to the historic Spanish Colonial home.

Art Nouveau-inspired floor tiles designed by Marian Koogler McNay

Hand-stenciled beam and ceiling designed by Marian Koogler McNay in the original Atlee Ayres home

Wrought iron gates in original Ayres-designed Spanish Colonial Revival residence

Calder mobile hung in Viguier-designed addition to McNay

Column and arches located in original Ayres Spanish Colonial Revival home design

Detail of solar screens whose design is based on aerial photography of a logjam, located in Vigiuer modern wing