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SUBSCRIBER CONTENT: Apr 20, 2012, 5:00am CDT

Landmark Awards

Julia Ideson Building named Historic Renovation Landmark winner (Video)

Photo courtesy of Gensler

The restored Tudor Gallery in the Julia Ideson Building.

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Staff Houston Business Journal

The Spanish Renaissance-style Julia Ideson Library opened in 1926 in downtown Houston on the corner of Main and McKinney. The original library, named after Houston’s first professional librarian, was designed by noted Boston architect Ralph Adams Cram, whose original plans for the library included a south wing, two-story loggia and outdoor reading garden that were never built due to economic difficulties from the Great Depression.

A $32 million expansion and renovation project to include these elements was completed in 2011 — five years after the Julia Ideson Library Preservation Partners Inc. was formed.

Phase I of the project included the addition of a 21,500-square-foot wing with an adjacent open-air loggia and reading garden. The new wing contains state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly archival storage with a reading room on the first floor, a collections vault on the second floor and 2.5 floors of high-density storage.

Phase II included restoration to the exterior and interior of the original 66,000-square-foot building. In addition to the abatement of hazardous materials and upgrades, a new elevator and roof were added, missing cast-stone pieces were replaced, and the front plaza was reconfigured and relandscaped.

Inside, intricate ceilings in the public rooms were restored and historic light fixtures were either relamped or replaced. Conservation labs were created, volunteer and staff lounges were remodeled, and offices were created to serve the library.

Dealmakers
Developer: Julia Ideson Library Preservation Partners Inc.
Owner: City of Houston
Architect: Gensler
General Contractor: Balfour Beatty Construction
Civil Engineer: Ward, Getz & Associates LP
Structural Engineer: Haynes Whaley Associates Inc.
MEP Engineer: Redding Linden Burr Inc.
Surveyor: Windrose Land Services Inc.
Lighting Consultant: Bos Lighting Design
Landscape Architect: TBG Partners
Art Restoration: Houston Arts Alliance and Whitten & Proctor Fine Art Conservation
Historical Architectural Woodwork and Paint Restoration: EverGreene Architectural Arts Inc.

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