Features
The 25 – Russell Windham
A founding principal of Curtis & Windham Architects and the current chairman of the board of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, Russell Windham has dedicated himself to the practice and promulgation and propagation of classical architecture for over 30 years.
He established his award-winning Houston-based firm in 1992 when there were few quality traditional architects at work in the Texas city, or for that matter, in any city in America.
Through his work, he has bolstered the city’s tradition of good traditional architecture and has created opportunities for the next generation of architects to learn and participate, to understand how to run an office and make architecture, and to, as he says, “build things that matter and that make the city a better place.”
As a boy growing up on the high plains of Texas, where there was no built environment, he learned to love the spaces between buildings. “My brother told me he thought I’d be a good architect,” he says, adding that that observation further strengthened his love of the field.
Windham has lectured and exhibited at venues around the country, and the firm’s work has been published in the monograph, “A Vision of Place.” A director of Houston’s Memorial Park Conservancy, he habitually serves on juries at architecture schools throughout the United States.
He credits the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art with playing a large role in holding the traditional classical community together.
“Now, the traditional world is doing great,” he says. “We are busier than ever, and we are witnessing and welcoming the next generation of architects. They’re interested in building places that last and endure, and they want them to be beautiful. I think the traditional movement is in alignment with the coming culture and the awakening of the public. People want better places to live, places where they can walk and don’t have to rely on a car, for environmental reasons. I think the future of thoughtful, principled buildings is on the rise.”
