Where I’m Coming From
Compiled by Forrest Preece
Charles Peveto, Historic Preservationist
- What’s something about you that not many people know?
That I am a collector of many things, and an avid collector of Mid-Century Mexican Silver, Spanish Colonial Silver, and pre-Columbian art. Most people assume I collect only Texas Modernism, that being my main focus, both paintings and sculpture.
- What was your first job?
Designing a sign to go on top of a friend's shop in Orange, Texas, while in high school, enrolled in drafting.
- If you could have dinner with three people – dead or alive, at any time in history—who would they be?
The late Modernist Edward Durell Stone, late Austin architect Charles Henry Page, Houston philanthropist and socialite Lynn Wyatt, and Austin philanthropist and author Gay Gaddis, all at Table 50 in The Austin Club.
- If you had to pick three musicians for a playlist, who would they be?
Diana Ross, Madonna (her ballads, especially "Masterpiece"), and the current group, Cigarettes After Sex (the perfect background for a reception)
- Favorite book and TV show?
Book: "Double Vision" The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil, Television Show: Dark Shadows, 1960s.
- Most powerful movie you have seen?
"The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone"
- Favorite place in Austin?
Well, I have two. My tiny place at Westgate Tower (1962-1966), designed by American Modernist Edward Durell Stone, next door to the beautiful Texas State Capitol. Historic preservation and history being my life, I had the Westgate listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Also, Wooldridge Square, one of Austin's original four historic squares that were laid out in Edwin Waller's 1839 Plan of Austin. I chair the Friends of Wooldridge Square in my Downtown neighborhood.
- Favorite restaurant and watering hole
Fonda San Miguel
- What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Architect/Designer
- Which living person do you most admire?
Good friend and former Mayor of Austin, Lee Cooke
- What makes you happy?
Dining with friends. Lunching at Table 50 at The Austin Club, with good friends, someone in particular. Breakfast/Lunch at Casa de Luz. "Truffles Charles," a special dessert was created in my honor, a very healthy macrobiotic creation. I always have dessert for breakfast at Casa. Lunching at the Argyle Club in San Antonio. Breakfast/Lunch Table 13, Pasqual's, Santa Fe. Listen, I was born to lunch, especially in historic places. It is what it is . . .
- Best advice you ever received?
You have to earn the trust of others.
