N 29.73833, W 95.39349, in the heart of Houston’s historic Montrose neighborhoodThe late architect Philip Johnson was a lifelong atheist, yet he’s responsible for some of the world’s most beautiful religious spaces. Houston is graced with two of them: the Rothko Chapel, which he helped design, and, just a six-minute walk away, the lesser-known Chapel of St. Basil. Built in 1997, the gold-domed structure anchors the north end of the University of St. Thomas campus. (Johnson, who was closely associated with the Catholic school throughout his life, designed its distinctive brick-and-steel quadrangle in the fifties.) Visitors enter through what appears to be a vertical rip in the white stucco facade. Inside is a contemplative, high-ceilinged space illuminated from above by a massive skylight; during the…
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