Architect Kenneth Bentsen dies at 86

Source: Houston ChronicleSept.自存倉 29--A memorial service was held Saturday for Kenneth E. Bentsen, a prominent Houston architect and father of former U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen.Bentsen died Tuesday in a Houston hospital. He was 86.The brother of the late U.S. senator and treasury secretary Lloyd Bentsen Jr., Kenneth Bentsen had no interest in politics, said his son, the former congressman."He loved architecture," his son said after the memorial service at Houston's First Presbyterian Church. "He always said a middle school teacher got him interested in history, art and architecture."Bentsen left an impressive design legacy across Houston, according to the Rev. Dr. Bill Heston, who officiated at the memorial service.Spurned medical schoolAmong Bentsen's major architectural contributions are the million-square-foot Texas Children's Hospital complex and the former Summit Sports Arena (now Lakewood Church) in Houston, and the State Bar of Texas headquarters in Austin.One summer when Ken Bentsen Jr. was about 8, he was in Santa Fe, N.M., with his parents to pick up his sisters at a camp. A stop at an art gallery piqued his father's interest in Georgia O'Keeffe, so he decided to visit the reclusive painter's studio in the country, unannounced.When they arrived, his mother refused to get out of the car but young Bentsen and his father approached the door. As O'Keeffe opened it, Ken Bentsen Sr. said, "Son, this is the most famous artist in America today."She replied, "Won't you come in?"Bentsen was born Nov. 21, 1926, inmini storageMission, seven miles north of the Mexican border.When he entered architecture school at the University of Texas in Austin after World War II, it was against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to become a doctor.Graduated from UHBentsen started medical school at UT, but an aversion to blood quickly persuaded him to change majors, his son said.As a sophomore, toward the end of the war, Bentsen enlisted in the Naval Air Corps. After his military service, he enrolled in the new College of Architecture at the University of Houston, graduating in 1952. He ran his own firm, Kenneth Bentsen Associates Architects, from 1958 to 1991.Bentsen also designed 17 buildings at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg.The school is in the process of major expansion, said Terence Thompson, the university's general counsel, who attended the memorial service."We want to make sure, as we design new buildings and expand, that we retain the flavor of the architecture that Ken Bentsen brought to our campus," Thompson said. "It's a very high priority in our master plan concept."A collection of Bent貞en's architectural papers is housed on the UH campus, where he also designed two buildings.In addition to his son Kenneth Jr., Bentsen is also survived by his wife of 60 years, Mary Bentsen; children Molly Bentsen, Betty Newton and William L. Bentsen; and a sister, Betty Winn, of McAllen.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Houston Chronicle Visit the Houston Chronicle at .chron.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存