Julia Ideson Building

The Julia Ideson Building is a Houston Public Library facility in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is named for Julia Bedford Ideson, who served as the system's first head librarian for 40 years.[1]

Julia Ideson Building
Julia Ideson Building
Julia Ideson Building is located in Houston Downtown
Julia Ideson Building
Julia Ideson Building is located in Texas
Julia Ideson Building
Julia Ideson Building is located in the United States
Julia Ideson Building
Location500 McKinney Street
Houston, Texas
Coordinates29°45′32″N 95°22′9″W
Area1.5 acres (0.61 ha)
Built1926
ArchitectRalph Adams Cram
Architectural styleLate 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Spanish Renaissance
NRHP reference No.77001447
RTHL No.13888
TSAL No.323
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 23, 1977
Designated RTHL2003
Designated TSAL5/28/1981

The Spanish Renaissance-style building[2] is part of the Central Library, and houses its archives, manuscripts, and Texas and Local History departments.[3] It is also the site of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center.[4]

From 1926 to 1976 it was Houston's sole main library building.[5]

History

Designed by Ralph Adams Cram of Cram and Ferguson, Boston, the Ideson Building opened in 1926 as HPL's Central Library. Designed in a Spanish Revival style, it replaced the prior Carnegie building. In 1976 the Jesse H. Jones Building (as it was named in 1989) opened, and the main portion of the Central Library moved to it.[4]

The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[6] The Ideson building reopened in 1979.[4]

Lana Berkowitz of the Houston Chronicle described a local legend that the Ideson Building was haunted by the ghosts of library caretaker Jacob Frank Cramer and his dog Petey.[2]

References
  1. Chapman, Betty Trapp. "Houston Women: Invisible Threads in the Tapestry". Virginia Beach: Donning Publishing Company, 2000, p. 109.
  2. Berkowitz, Lana. "Downtown Houston can be a real ghost town." Houston Chronicle. October 21, 2007. Retrieved on March 7, 2010.
  3. "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.
  4. Houston Public Library from the Handbook of Texas Online
  5. 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)
  6. National Register Information System, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service.
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