101 North Highland Avenue
Marfa, Texas
In November 1989, Judd purchased the former Marfa National Bank building located in downtown Marfa. He renovated the building over a six-month period to create a space to work on architecture and design. The bank was originally built by a German architect, L. G. Knipe, and opened in 1931. In the 1960s the bank went under renovations that included dropping the ceiling, removing the grand staircase and the marble cladding from the interior walls, and installing fake wood paneling. Judd removed these adjustments with the intention to make the space appear as it did in the 1930s.
The building contains early paintings and drawings by Judd, as well as furniture he designed and plans for architectural projects installed throughout the two stories and more than fifteen rooms. An extensive collection of modernist furniture and paintings by prominent twentieth-century designers and artists are featured in the building, including work by Alvar Aalto, Josef Albers, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Gerrit Rietveld, and Theo van Doesburg.
The Architecture Studio is a contributing building to the Central Marfa Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ground floor. Audio excerpt of a lecture by Donald Judd at the University of Texas at Austin, March 9, 1992. Courtesy University of Texas Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin.
Second floor. Audio excerpt of a panel discussion “Is Easel Painting Dead?,” panel discussion with Donald Judd, Barbara Rose, Darby Bannard, Larry Poons, and Robert Rauschenberg, November 10, 1966. Used with permissions.