The Great Depression undermined the equation of scenography and modernization. One alternative that preserved use of historical models was Regionalism, which entailed modernizing and streamlining American historical models, exemplified by the Camille Sams and Larry F. Lightner House of 1936 in Brownsville. Designed by the Miami architect Russell T. Pancoast, the Monterey-style Lightner House discloses the continuing dependence of Texans on architecture in south Florida and southern California when it came to constructing architectural images of place in the borderlands. The house still looks like this in 2014.

Text and Photos by Stephen Fox