_Bremond Block
City Hall
The Texas Capitol
Capitol Extension
St. Mary's Cathedral
First Methodist
Driskill Hotel
University of Texas School of Architecture
A beautifully proportioned two-story symmetrical rectangular structure of smooth cream colored limestone with a large red tile roof and wide projecting eaves in the Mediterranean Renaissance style. The first and second stories are given the Renaissance proportions of basement and piano nobile, with deep set trabiated first story openings with iron grills and a paneled double front door with wide architrave carved in low relief with plants and plant form urns and large cartouche-keystone. The door is flanked by two massive and ornate wrought iron lanterns derived from Spanish Renaissance proto-types.
The seven second story windows are also deep set and are very large, arched, and have polychrome terracotta archivolts with fruit and flowers in relief. Terracotta medallions with zodiac signs are on the spandrels between the arches. There are delicate iron grill balconies at each window. The wide eaves have polychrome coffers and pendants and carved acanthus brackets.
The exterior is reminiscent of McKim, Mead, and White's Boston Public Library although this building is more feminine and delicate. The interior has offices on the first floor and a grand marble staircase with ornamental iron balustrades tucked in a rear corner of the building. The second floor is given monumental proportions with a large beamed and paneled reading room with Spanish reja inspired grills.
On December 11, 1909, the Board of Regents of the University of Texas appropriated $211,000 to construct and furnish a library building. They decided that there was no architect in Austin equal to the task, and so they chose Cass Gilbert of New York City. Gilbert received his training at M.I.T., and he designed such well-known buildings as the State Capitol of Minnesota, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Woolworth Building in New York, and the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. He produced many beautiful works, and his Texas library remains one of the best buildings on the campus.
Gilbert agreed to design the University of Texas library if he could do so with "the utter exclusion from the building of any feature of material or of ornament indigenous or identifiable to Texas..." He must have made a conscious effort to reflect the Spanish heritage of Texas, however, for the library includes numerous details typical of various Spanish Renaissance buildings. Gilbert's plan, accepted by the Regents January 11, 1910, consisted of two rectangles. The east portion included public reading rooms and a small art gallery; the west included space for book stacks. The library was to have three stories and a basement. A marble staircase and iron balustrade led to the second floor.
The east walls of the building are particularly beautiful. They are faced with limestone and rest on a granite base. Five arched windows let light into the Reading Room. A border of colored terra cotta extends around each window, and each border consists of a rich design of plants and mythological heads. White zodiac signs are emblazoned on blue terracotta.
The building was completed by 1911. September 21, 1946, the Board of Regents named Gilbert's building in honor of the Texas historian and professor Eugene C. Barker, and they transferred all University books, papers, archives, and letters pertaining to Texas and the Southwest to the Center. April 27, 1950, the University dedicated the Center.
City Hall
The Texas Capitol
Capitol Extension
St. Mary's Cathedral
First Methodist
Driskill Hotel
University of Texas School of Architecture
A beautifully proportioned two-story symmetrical rectangular structure of smooth cream colored limestone with a large red tile roof and wide projecting eaves in the Mediterranean Renaissance style. The first and second stories are given the Renaissance proportions of basement and piano nobile, with deep set trabiated first story openings with iron grills and a paneled double front door with wide architrave carved in low relief with plants and plant form urns and large cartouche-keystone. The door is flanked by two massive and ornate wrought iron lanterns derived from Spanish Renaissance proto-types.
The seven second story windows are also deep set and are very large, arched, and have polychrome terracotta archivolts with fruit and flowers in relief. Terracotta medallions with zodiac signs are on the spandrels between the arches. There are delicate iron grill balconies at each window. The wide eaves have polychrome coffers and pendants and carved acanthus brackets.
The exterior is reminiscent of McKim, Mead, and White's Boston Public Library although this building is more feminine and delicate. The interior has offices on the first floor and a grand marble staircase with ornamental iron balustrades tucked in a rear corner of the building. The second floor is given monumental proportions with a large beamed and paneled reading room with Spanish reja inspired grills.
On December 11, 1909, the Board of Regents of the University of Texas appropriated $211,000 to construct and furnish a library building. They decided that there was no architect in Austin equal to the task, and so they chose Cass Gilbert of New York City. Gilbert received his training at M.I.T., and he designed such well-known buildings as the State Capitol of Minnesota, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Woolworth Building in New York, and the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. He produced many beautiful works, and his Texas library remains one of the best buildings on the campus.
Gilbert agreed to design the University of Texas library if he could do so with "the utter exclusion from the building of any feature of material or of ornament indigenous or identifiable to Texas..." He must have made a conscious effort to reflect the Spanish heritage of Texas, however, for the library includes numerous details typical of various Spanish Renaissance buildings. Gilbert's plan, accepted by the Regents January 11, 1910, consisted of two rectangles. The east portion included public reading rooms and a small art gallery; the west included space for book stacks. The library was to have three stories and a basement. A marble staircase and iron balustrade led to the second floor.
The east walls of the building are particularly beautiful. They are faced with limestone and rest on a granite base. Five arched windows let light into the Reading Room. A border of colored terra cotta extends around each window, and each border consists of a rich design of plants and mythological heads. White zodiac signs are emblazoned on blue terracotta.
The building was completed by 1911. September 21, 1946, the Board of Regents named Gilbert's building in honor of the Texas historian and professor Eugene C. Barker, and they transferred all University books, papers, archives, and letters pertaining to Texas and the Southwest to the Center. April 27, 1950, the University dedicated the Center.
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