Matsen House
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1953, distinguished professor of chemistry and physics at the University of Texas at Austin, Frederick Albert Matsen (1913-2006), and his wife, Cecelia Christina (Kirkegaard) Matsen (1910-2006), built this home. The couple worked with Austin architects Carlton Brush and Joseph Buffler, influenced by Frank Lloyd wright, who was active in Racine, Wisconsin, native town of the Matsens. The two-story house is built of limestone walls and cedar shakes on a wood frame. It exhibits mid-century modern and international elements, including horizontal emphasis in the flat roof and windows, use of natural light, and a floor plan incorporating the slope of the site.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1953 University of Texas chemistry and physics professor Frederick Albert Matsen and his wife Cecelia built this limestone-and-cedar home with Austin architects Carlton Brush and Joseph Buffler. Drawing on the couple's admiration for Frank Lloyd Wright, active in their native Racine, Wisconsin, the two-story house embraces mid-century modern and International ideas—horizontal lines, natural light, and a plan that follows the slope of the land. It stands as a well-preserved expression of postwar modernist domestic design.
Why it matters
The house reflects how mid-century modernism and the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright reached into the homes of America's postwar university towns.
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Related people
- · Frederick Albert Matsen
- · Cecelia Christina Kirkegaard Matsen
- · Frank Lloyd Wright
Themes & tags
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