Cullen Building

Houston, TX - ian - Monday, October 24th, 2005 : goo

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I've always been a big fan of the architectural details of Baylor College of Medicine's Cullen Building, even before I was a student in this very building (2nd floor.)

The bas relief sculptures really capture a different era -- the late 40s, a period in American history when the faith that Science was the future, that biomedical research had limitless potential for helping humanity. This was back when people perceived science as curing disease, not creating it. The reception to such ideas is, shall we say, orders of magnitude cooler in the current administration and cultural climate. The imagery is quite heavy-handed, but that's why I like it so much.

Anyway, the building was cleaned just recently. Fifty years of pollution was peeled away from the beautiful Texas Limestone, and the result is quite striking when the sun is out. Here is some background info on the building: www.bcm.edu/solutions/monument.cfm.

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