The Detours series celebrates lesser-known locales worth visiting across the state.

The late architect Philip Johnson was a lifelong atheist, yet he’s responsible for some of the world’s most beautiful religious spaces. Houston’s historic Montrose neighborhood 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 day, a window shaped like an asymmetrical cross seems to glow. With seating for 225 people, the chapel hosts Mass every day, but its doors are open to everyone, regardless of their religion. A few minutes in its tranquility offers a break from city life.

The Chapel of St. Basil, in Houston.
New York–based architect Philip Johnson, who first came to Houston early in his career, in 1949, to design the Montrose home of  John and Dominique de Menil, designed the nearby  University of St. Thomas campus in the fifties. Four decades later, he designed the Chapel of St. Basil at the north end.
Photograph by Matt Conant
The Chapel of St. Basil, in Houston.
 The Catholic chapel hosts Mass daily (twice most days) for University of St. Thomas students and faculty, but its doors are open to everyone.
Photograph by Matt Conant
The Chapel of St. Basil, in Houston.
The chapel’s design incorporates a fifty-foot-high white stucco cube, a gold dome, and a black granite plane housing the bell tower. It is named for St. Basil the Great, a fourth-century bishop from what today is the country of Turkey.
Photograph by Matt Conant
The Chapel of St. Basil, in Houston.
Visitors enter the chapel through what appears to be a vertical rip. Inside, they’ll find many works by Texas sculptor David Cargill, including the altar, the sculpture of Mary and Jesus in the chapel’s eastern wall, the tabernacle, and the Stations of the Cross.
Photograph by Matt Conant
The Chapel of St. Basil, in Houston.
The chapel’s west wall features a glass window shaped like an asymmetrical cross.
Photograph by Matt Conant

An abbreviated version of this article originally appeared in the November 2023 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Under the Dome.” Subscribe today.