Houston’s growing reputation as an architectural hotspot attracted Bill Stern to the city in 1976. He began by working for the grandaddy of the city’s Tin Houses, Eugene Aubry; later he helped popularize the very “Houston” look favored by many other architects who had gathered around the Menils — beginning in 1992 with his own 3-story louvered home at the corner of Milford and Mt. Vernon in the Museum District (above) and continuing with many subsequent buildings designed by his firm, renamed Stern and Bucek Architects in 1999. In addition to their own designs, Stern and Bucek helped preserve, renovate, and reuse Modern structures, including the Menils’ own 1950 home on San Felipe by Philip Johnson, the Frame-Harper House, the CAMH, and the Miller Outdoor Theater. Stern was an art collector and a founding editor of the Rice Design Alliance’s Cite magazine; he taught at UH for almost 30 years. Pancreatic cancer cut his life short; Stern died Friday in his Milford St. home.
- Houston architect Stern dies a day after receiving top award [Houston Chronicle]
- William Stern, FAIA, LEED AP [Stern and Bucek Architects]
Photo of 1202 Milford St.: Stern and Bucek Architects
Rest in peace Bill. You will be missed.
Bill was brilliant. It’s so unfair that he’s gone so soon. He already made a huge impact on Houston and would have continued to contribute in so many new ways. RIP friend.
I hope I can enjoy his work for decades to come.
Thank you for making Houston a better place, Mr. Stern.
RIP
A brilliant mind!! so creative….he will be missed……
RIP Professor Stern. Enjoy your time in the Pantheon of those like Neyimyer, Wright, Alto, Neri, Woods and your old friend Phillip Johnson…
Some of us will pick up the torch and march on for this great city.
You are missed.
Rest in peace Mr. Stern; a patron of the arts, an unconditional educator and an architect with the most refined sense of proportion and detail.