THE BUILDING
A quiet backdrop for loud ideas
Designed by the Gold Medal firm Lake Flato. Built from Texas stone. Made to belong on Main Street.
WHY PEOPLE COME
Ask the founders and they will tell you: half the people who walk through the door come for the art, and the other half come for the building. Both halves are right. ARTHOUSE is that rare small building that architects drive hours to see, and it gives everyone else a reason to understand why. Stand in the exhibition space at midday and watch the skylights pour soft Texas light down the walls. Run a hand along stone quarried three hours west. Find the courtyard hiding between the sidewalk and the art. Come for Ruscha, stay for the light. Or the other way around.
THE DESIGN STORY
ARTHOUSE was designed by Lake Flato, the San Antonio and Austin firm whose founders, David Lake and Ted Flato, received the AIA Gold Medal in 2024. The Gold Medal is the highest honor the American Institute of Architects can bestow, awarded to the architects whose work has most shaped the profession, and it places them among the most celebrated architects in American history. Their firm has earned more than 400 design awards, including AIA National Firm of the Year.
Grace Boudewyns, the project’s lead designer, shaped the building around a simple brief: a public exhibition space on the ground floor, a private workspace above, and a presence that respects the storefronts around it, including the 1910 post office next door.
“From the beginning, our goal was to create a building that feels both welcoming and deeply connected to downtown Marble Falls,” Boudewyns has said. “We hope ARTHOUSE feels like it has always belonged here.”
THE STONE
Lueders limestone, from about three hours west
The facade is made of large, smooth blocks of Lueders limestone, quarried in the small Texas town of the same name. It is the stone of the Hill Country used in a new way: crisp, calm, and built to age gracefully alongside its hundred-year-old neighbors.
THE COURTYARD
A garden between the street and the art
Just inside the entrance, a small Japanese courtyard offers a pause between Main Street and the exhibition space. It was designed by Sada Uchiyama, a fourth-generation Japanese gardener and Curator Emeritus of the Portland Japanese Garden.
Questions before you come?
We are happy to help with tours, accessibility, and group visits. Call 432-400-2535.