Julia Ideson Building

Julia Ideson Building
Julia Ideson Building
Location: 500 McKinney Street
Houston, Texas
United States
NRHP Reference#: 77001447
Added to NRHP: 1977

The Julia Ideson Building is a Houston Public Library facility in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States.

The building, with Spanish Renaissance architecture,[1] is part of the Central Library; it houses the archives, manuscripts, and the Texas and Local History Department.[2] The Houston Metropolitan Research Center is located in the building.[3]

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 Central Library moved to the new building.[3]

The building received listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[4] The Ideson building reopened in 1979.[3]

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.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Berkowitz, Lana. "Downtown Houston can be a real ghost town." Houston Chronicle. October 21, 2007. Retrieved on March 7, 2010.
  2. ^ "Central Library Julia Ideson Building Texas Room and Archives." Houston Public Library. Retrieved on January 27, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c Houston Public Library from the Handbook of Texas Online
  4. ^ National Register Information System, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service.