John Fanz Staub (called Fanz by his Knoxville friends and John at his home in Houston, Texas) graduated from UT in 1913 as a mathematics major and went on to MIT to study architecture. He earned both the BS and MS in architecture at MIT and went to New York to work for Harrie T. Lindeberg, a designer of fashionable country homes.
World War I interrupted Staub’s apprenticeship with the Lindeberg firm. In 1917 he enlisted in the Naval Reserve Flying Corps. As an aviator, he was awarded the Navy Cross for action against a German submarine in the North Sea. In World War II, he served as commandant of United States Air Stations in Manteo and Harvey Point, North Carolina.
In 1921 he was sent to supervise construction of three residences Lindeberg had designed in Houston. While he was visiting in Knoxville, Staub’s aunt and uncle convinced him to accept his first commission independent of Lindeberg, to design an English cottage home for them on Melrose Ave. He was also offered a partnership in Barber & McMurry in 1921 but went to Houston to supervise the construction and then decided to make his home there. He established his architectural firm in 1923, retiring from active practice in 1963, and the firm he founded (Staub, Rather, and Howze by that time) was dissolved in 1971.
He is principally known for his residences and, from the beginning of his career, was identified with the Houston neighborhood of River Oaks. He designed 31 homes in River Oaks, including the 28-room New Orleans-style Bayou Bend for Ima Hogg. His architectural achievements include the Texas Memorial Museum at Austin and several buildings, including the library on the Rice University campus. In Knoxville, two Staub houses exist, both owned by the university. His design for his aunt and uncle’s Hopecote won a number of architectural prizes. He also designed the home of heiress Eugenia Williams on Lyons View Pike, which she willed to UT.
In 1919 Staub was one of the alumni leaders who sought to have Old College preserved. In the 1970s he actively participated in the design of the Hopecote Garden and the restoration of the house.