The knowledgeable staff, including education director Kathleen O'Connor,
curator Michael Brown, and expert docents, took us through the house after telling us the fascinating story of the previous owner of Bayou Bend.
Her father, James Hogg, in 1882 named her after a poetic heroine called Ima—short for Imogene. In her 93-year life, Ima Hogg never thought of changing her name.
She attained prominence in a male-dominated society, serving on the Houston School Board, as president of the Houston Symphony Society, the first woman president of the Philosophical Society of Texas, and as an Eisenhower appointee to the arts committee for what later became the Kennedy Center.
An early collector of American furniture, today her home's twenty-eight rooms each illustrate a period of American style from 1620 to 1870.
Although interior photography was not permitted, you can get a glimpse at some of the rooms, and the collections within, here.
Our numbers were beginning to dwindle, as some had left for earlier flights.
Our final stop was at nearby Rienzi, former home of Carroll and Harris Masterson III. After their death, Rienzi, and an endowment to maintain it, was donated to the MFAH. Rienzi now is the center for European decorative arts at the MFAH.
Katherine S. Howe, director of Rienzi and curator of decorative arts, told us the history of the estate and the extensive curatorial research that awaits them.
We learned firsthand of the necessity of the endowment. After the breakdown of the existing climate-control system, a new one had recently been installed. A part of the house was frigid—even by Houston air conditioning standards—to reduce the humidity to an acceptable value.
The Mastersons' sited their house specifically to feature views of a large magnolia tree that struck their attention while they were surveying their property.
