Houston House and Home - Index

Houston House and Home - houstonhouseandhome - Index

HOUSTON PHILANTHROPISTS FUND NONPROFIT
TO REALIZE IDESON’S ORIGINAL PLANS
Fourteen months ago, the nonprofit Julia Ideson Library Preservation
Partners (JILPP) launched a $38 million capital campaign, which has
now reached more than 50 percent of its fund-raising goal.
Groundbreaking for the building’s new archival wing was held Jan. 12.
Completion of the new wing is expected by the end of 2009, and the
restoration will begin in 2010.
Located at 500 McKinney St. in downtown Houston, the three-story
building named after Houston’s first professional librarian was designed
by noted Boston architect Ralph Adams Cram who also created the
design for Rice University’s original campus. Working with local architects
William Ward Watkin and Louis Glover, Cram, one of the 20th century’s
premier practitioners of various revival styles, chose the Spanish
Renaissance style for the Ideson as he deemed it appropriate to Houston’s
heritage and cultural context. Brick, stone and stucco comprise the building’s
materials, along with a tile roof that is characteristic of the building’s
style.
Although the economic difficulties of the Great Depression thwarted
the original plans for the Ideson’s envisioned south wing and rear garden,
the building will now witness the full realization of its original, complete
architectural plan.
“The Ideson is truly one of Houston’s historic gems,” says Phoebe
Tudor, chairman of the Julia Ideson Library Preservation Partners. “In
addition to a new purpose-built wing for the archival collection, we want
to provide a welcoming environment for Houstonians and visitors by
creating new gardens and restoring the public spaces to their original
grandeur.”
ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS, PROGRESSIVE DESIGN
The Ideson is among the first Texas Historic Landmark projects on track
for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification
in the state; the JILPP also hopes to receive a Silver designation from the
U.S. Green Building Council. An efficient air-conditioning system and
ABOVE: A drawing of the new Texas Room, as planned for the 1926 Julia Ideson
Building. Rendering courtesy Gensler
BELOW: A 1926 photo of the second-floor reading room, also known as the Texas
Room, in the Julia Ideson Building. The building was recently voted one of Houston’s
Top 10 landmark structures. Photo courtesy Houston Metropolitan Research Center
RIGHT: The third
level gallery of the
Julia Ideson and its
gilded coffered ceiling
as it appeared
in 1926. Photo
courtesy the
Houston
Metropolitan
Research Center
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