Julia Ideson Building

The Julia Ideson Building is a three-story, L-shaped structure of buff-colored brick and limestone distinguished by a prominent red tile roof and Spanish Renaissance Revival architecture. Opened in nineteen twenty-six, it originally served as the main Houston Public Library, replacing a smaller Carnegie building that could no longer accommodate the city's growth. The building bears the name of Julia Bedford Ideson, the city's first professional librarian, who guided the library system for over four decades.