| Julia Ideson Building | |
| Location: | 500 McKinney Street Houston, Texas |
| Coordinates: | 29.7589°N -95.3692°W |
| Built: | 1926 |
| Architect: | Ralph Adams Cram |
| Architecture: | Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Spanish Renaissance |
| Added: | November 23, 1977 |
| Refnum: | 77001447 |
| Designated Other1: | RTHL |
| Designated Other1 Date: | 2003 |
| Designated Other1 Number: | 13888 |
| Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
| Designated Other2: | TSAL |
| Designated Other2 Date: | 5/28/1981 |
| Designated Other2 Number: | 323 |
| Designated Other2 Num Position: | bottom |
The Julia Ideson Building is a Houston Public Library facility in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is named for Julia Bedford Ideson, who served as the system's first head librarian for 40 years.[1]
The Spanish Renaissance-style building[2] is part of the Central Library, and houses its archives, manuscripts, and Texas and Local History departments.[3] It is also the site of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center.
From 1926 to 1976 it was Houston's sole main library building.[4]
Designed by Ralph Adams Cram of Cram and Ferguson, Boston, the Ideson Building opened in 1926 as HPL's Central Library. Designed in a Spanish Revival style, it replaced the prior Carnegie building. In 1976 the Jesse H. Jones Building (as it was named in 1989) opened, and the main portion of the Central Library moved to it.
The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[5] The Ideson building reopened in 1979.
Lana Berkowitz of the Houston Chronicle described a local legend that the Ideson Building was haunted by the ghosts of library caretaker Jacob Frank Cramer and his dog Petey.[2]