Julia Ideson Building
Julia Ideson Building | |
Julia Ideson Building | |
Location | 500 McKinney Street Houston, Texas |
---|---|
Coordinates | 29°45′32″N 95°22′9″W / 29.75889°N 95.36917°W |
Area | 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) |
Built | 1926 |
Architect | Ralph Adams Cram |
Architectural style | Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Spanish Renaissance |
NRHP reference No. | 77001447 |
RTHL No. | 13888 |
TSAL No. | 323 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 23, 1977 |
Designated RTHL | 2003 |
Designated TSAL | 5/28/1981 |
The Julia Ideson Building is a Houston Public Library facility in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is named for Julia Bedford Ideson, the first Head Librarian of the Houston Public Libraries, who served in that role for forty years.[1]
The building, with Spanish Renaissance architecture,[2] is part of the Central Library; it houses the archives, manuscripts, and the Texas and Local History Department.[3] The Houston Metropolitan Research Center is located in the building.[4]
From 1926 to 1976 it was the sole main library building of Houston.[5]
History
Designed by Ralph Adams Cram of Cram and Ferguson, Boston, the Ideson Building opened in 1926 as the Central Library for HPL; the building, exhibiting a Spanish Revival style, replaced a prior Carnegie building. In 1976 the Jesse H. Jones Building (as the building was named in 1989) opened, and the main portion of the Central Library moved to the new building.[4]
The building received listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[6] The Ideson building reopened in 1979.[4]
Lana Berkowitz of the Houston Chronicle stated that there are legends of the Ideson Building being haunted by the ghost of Jacob Frank Cramer, a library caretaker, and Petey, his dog.[2]
References
- ^ Chapman, Betty Trapp. "Houston Women: Invisible Threads in the Tapestry". Virginia Beach: Donning Publishing Company, 2000, p. 109.
- ^ a b Berkowitz, Lana. "Downtown Houston can be a real ghost town." Houston Chronicle. October 21, 2007. Retrieved on March 7, 2010.
- ^ "Central Library Julia Ideson Building Texas Room and Archives Archived 2009-02-11 at the Wayback Machine." Houston Public Library. Retrieved on January 27, 2009.
- ^ a b c Houston Public Library from the Handbook of Texas Online
- ^ Chapman, Betty Trapp. "Walking in the Footsteps of Houston Women: A Historic Tour of Downtown Houston" (PDF). The Houston Review. pp. 59–62. - Cited: p. 59 (PDF p. 1/4)
- ^ National Register Information System, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- About the Julia Ideson Building - Houston Public Library
- A Walk Through Houston’s History- Julia Ideson Library on YouTube - Downtown Houston organization
- Houston Public Library
- Library buildings completed in 1926
- Libraries in Houston
- National Register of Historic Places in Houston
- Buildings and structures in Houston
- Ralph Adams Cram buildings
- Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas
- Spanish Revival architecture in the United States
- 1926 establishments in Texas
- Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks
- Texas State Antiquities Landmarks
- Downtown Houston
- Texas building and structure stubs