House helper: New Bayou Bend visitors center opens up the historic Hogg manselike never before

Editor's Note: A new 18,000-square-foot sleek and modern visitors center for the Bayou Bend Collections and Gardens will open Sept. 25, providing easier access and a centralized starting point to get to the estate of Houston-changing philanthropist Ima Hogg. In this series, CultureMap will examine the impact of the transformation, leading up to the public unveiling.

First up: How the new visitors center opens up a historic house.

Lustrous wallpapers, stunning patterned carpets and perked-up parlors are all part of the soon-to-be-unveiled Bayou Bend renovation and reinstallation of its Americana collection. With the Sept. 25 reopening, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is arriving closer than ever before to realizing philanthropist and collector Ima Hogg's vision — and will for her estate: To display the glories of early American art at her historic house on the banks of Buffalo Bayou.

The restored home is being revealed in conjunction with the opening of the new Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center. And while that new building's sleek spaces and well-appointed library are drawing much fanfare, the Bayou Bend Collection itself is benefiting from the transfer of museum offices from the home to the new visitors center, allowing previously unaccessible rooms of the Hogg mansion to be made public.

"When we did this capital campaign for the education center, we knew the real winner was going to be the house," MFAH director Peter Marzio tells CultureMap.

Two of the most historically significant spaces, the McIntire Bedroom and Ms. Hogg's music room, are now upstairs.

"We've completely put the rooms back to their period condition," Marzio says. "They're in the best condition that they've ever been. With the conservation of the textiles and wallpaper, they'll be two of the most sparkling rooms in the entire house."

The intoxicating green-patterned McIntire Bedroom spotlights the work of Samuel McIntire, a renowned architect and woodcarver, whose exquisitely carved objects of the Salem school were particularly prized by Hogg. McIntire's work is considered crucial among scholars of Colonial visual culture. There is also a McIntire Bedroom at the du Pont family's monumental Winterthur estate — yet all audiences will appreciate the painstakingly reproduced Laurel Trellis wallpaper and intricate patterning of the bed and window fabrics.

With its continent-crossing murals and early Grecian-style appointments, the Music Room is another masterpiece of the renovation. This room makes no concessions to modesty, with such highlights as painted chairs, a Chinese export porcelain tea and coffee service and French reproduction panoramic wallpaper. Hogg's inner bon vivant shines through in this most opulent of rooms.

Novices and Americana aficionados alike will be wowed also by the restored Federal Parlor, created in collaboration with lionized Houston architect John Staub. The parlor's neoclassical-inspired mantle's provenance was revealed during the renovation as the work of Philadelphia craftsman Robert Wellford.

Historic glass, ceramics and metalwork will also be highlighted in their respective rooms, allowing visitors rare up-close observation of the pieces' expert detail.

"If you go to places that have great collections like the Met in New York, the objects are in period settings and glass cases that are set off from visitors," Marzio explains.

Bayou Bend is also making curatorial strides in its new emphasis on folk art — pieces that were never before displayed in the home. The former Hogg Legacy Room, now relocated to the visitor center, will showcase Hogg's eye for work created outside the market and the mainstream. Inside the room, visitors can marvel at her appreciation for rustic elements like wood sculpture, weather vanes and ceramics.

The attentiveness evidenced in all of the rooms has poised Bayou Bend as a heightened center for scholarly work. Beyond expanded programs for secondary schools and families, we can expect a mounting number of significant volumes to be published by scholars working out of Bayou Bend.

"Her famous quote is that Bayou Bend is a bridge to the past," Marzio recalls of the house museum's benefactor.

Hogg was a visionary for her wish to bring early American culture to life for Texas audiences at a time when the Eastern seaboard was a multi-day journey and locals were more inclined toward their Texas heritage. On Sept. 25, the MFAH will be extending Hogg's legacy with the opening of these renewed microcosms of early America.