Texas
Law Passed: 1937 • Joined NCARB: 1938 • Region 3—Southern (1967); Region 5 (1963-67)
The Components of Licensure
Education
1937: Applicants who complete a “technical course” approved by the board may become registered without examination.
1945: Graduation with a five-year degree from one of four colleges is acceptable for registration: The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Texas Technical College (now Texas Tech University), and Rice Institute (now Rice University).
1980: Candidates must hold a professional degree in order to sit for the exam.
2000: Continuing education becomes a requirement of registration renewal.
Experience
1937: Some applicants “of good moral character” with six months of architectural experience may become registered without examination.
1974: Board first discusses the NCARB internship program and expresses intent to implement it at the earliest possible date.
1976: Texas is one of three states to pilot the IDP.
1979: Board delays full implementation of the IDP until 1983.
January 1984: Candidates who did not have a combined eight years of education and experience prior to December 31, 1983, are required to complete the IDP.
November 1984: The board hires a dual-position IDP Coordinator/Investigator.
Examination
January 1938: NCARB’s Emery Stanford Hall attends a board meeting to discuss the merits of the various examinations held by licensing boards.
March 17-19, 1938: Sixteen applicants sit for the board’s first examination at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Architecture. The exam was written, administered, and graded by the three-person board.
1940: The board accepts registration by NCARB examination.
1941: The Texas examination is compared to the NCARB exam and modified for continuity.
1952: The board decides to hold all future examinations in Austin, but reconsiders.
1963: Texas begins administering NCARB’s national exam.
Noteworthy
The Texas Board of Architectural Examiners was created in 1937 after a gas leak in a school in New London, Texas, caused a massive explosion, killing nearly 300 children and teachers.
The first meeting of the three-member State Board of Architectural Examiners was held on September 3, 1937. At its next meeting on October 10, 1937, the first group of 80 Texas architects were registered. A true practice act was not passed until 1989, 52 years after the board’s creation.
The Texas Board regulates three registrant types (architects as of 1937, landscape architects as of 1979, and registered interior designers as of 1991), plus firms offering those services.
Notable People
NCARB Presidents
1972: Daniel Boone, FAIA (Abilene)
1974: E. G. Hamilton, FAIA (Dallas)
Additional Members of the NCARB Board of Directors
1950-54: Bartlett Cocke, FAIA (San Antonio)
1962-63: Louis C. Page, FAIA (Austin)
1975-78: Mace Tungate Jr., FAIA (Houston)
2004-05: Steven T. Ellinger(Abilene)
2015-Present: Alfred Vidaurri Jr., FAIA (Fort Worth)
First Chairman/President
1937: C. H. Page (Austin)
First Board Members
Herbert Voelcker (Wichita Falls)
Lester N. Flint (Dallas)
First License Issued
1937: Ollie J. Lorehn, FAIA
NCARB President Medalists
2014: Alfred Vidaurri Jr., FAIA (Fort Worth)
