1005 West Hickory Street- Alton House Apartments

Alton House is an apartment designed by artist, Myron Stout, born in Denton in 1908. Stout decided to become a fine arts painter while a senior at North Texas State Normal College. He helped start the Denton Art League in 1935 and became its first president in 1936 until he left Denton in 1937 for New York City. In 1948 he traveled to Europe to study with abstract artist where he developed his style of bridging between Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. In the early 1960s Stout returned to Denton to recover from illness. In recovery, he designed the Alton House building in 1962 for Earnest Simpson, his nephew, to be built on land owned by his family. Stout was awarded the Guggenheim art award in 1969. In 1977 he had a retrospective at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, and institutions around the world. Stout died in August 1987. Simpson built Alton House Apartments as the North Texas State University continued to grow. Alton House was open for the start of the fall semester in 1963, featuring the interior design created by Stout based on the Italian Provincial style. Stout included in his design parking for vehicles on the ground floor under the apartments.