Volume 6 • Number 2 • Spring 2009 IDESON AND PRESERVATION UNIVERSITY of H O U S T O N CENTER FOR PUBLIC HISTORY LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Preserving the Past (If Possible) The groundbreaking for Center, and to pursue other civic endeavors. This time, their the new archival wing of efforts were in the interest of historic preservation, a quality of the Julia Ideson Building life issue whose time has come. was something to be- The articles on Julia Ideson and the preservation of the library hold. On a picture perfect building bearing her name celebrate this triumph. What a place Houston spring day in the restored, refurbished, and expanded Ideson building will January, several hundred be. This issue also includes an article on a successful case of people gathered to hear adaptive reuse, the transformation of the M&M Building into the the speeches and watch the main campus building for UH Downtown. It also has an article groundbreaking for the new on one of the most notable failures in historic preservation in wing. Mayor White spoke our city’s history—the demolition of the Shamrock Hilton. As is with enthusiasm about the often true, in this case failure triggered success; the unsuccessful impact of the preservation efforts to save the Shamrock fostered the growth of a stronger and expansion of the Ideson preservationist movement in Houston. Building on future genera- (Old editor’s cranky aside: I acknowledge that the Shamrock tions of Houstonians. was historically significant. But I also spent the night there I left the ceremony convinced that he was not exaggerating. once, and I remember the room as one of the worst hotel rooms This was an important, perhaps even historic, moment for our I have ever occupied, second only to a room in a bizarre run- city. This ambitious project has mobilized almost $25 million down motel near the north entrance of Yellowstone where we lay in public and private funds to restore an important downtown awake half the night waiting for Anthony Perkins or his mom building and to complete the original plans from the 1920s by to burst through the door. Perhaps we should have preserved adding space for an archive. It might well prove to be a turning the Shamrock’s amazing swimming pool and its lobby while point for historic preservation in Houston. demolishing the rooms.) The mayor took the critical role of targeting this project as The excellent interview with Larry Gregory reminds us of something that needed to be done. Then concerned citizens led by the horrible damage from Hurricane Ike to much of Galveston, Phoebe Tudor organized the Julia Ideson Preservation Partnership prodding us perhaps to dig a bit deeper with our time and our to push the project forward. They enjoyed the support of key money to help repair the historic buildings of that city. My figures such as Rhea Brown Lawson, the Director of Libraries for own piece on the near total destruction of Bolivar Peninsula is the City of Houston, and of many others in the public and private simply my way of grieving the destruction of a place that has sectors who closed ranks to get the job done. been a significant part of my life. I’ll admit that the article is self In doing so, this group of citizens continued the long tradition indulgent, but pamper me on this one, for it comes from the heart. of Houstonians who in the past have organized to help complete The memories from Hilda Lopez of her beach house on Bolivar the Houston Ship Channel, to bring NASA to the Houston area, are, for me, touching beyond words. to build major universities in the city, to create the Texas Medical Where Do We Go from Here? The Houston History magazine is committed to publishing state-of-the-art web site with the cooperation of the Houston three issues each year, although the addition of the third History Association. issue has stretched thin our funding and our small staff. We are also committed to the current format of the The editor, Joe Pratt, remains, but a detour in life has taken magazine. Designer Marsha Van Horn, who designed the him temporarily to the job of “interim dean” of the College original issues of the magazine, has returned. Future maga- of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS), the largest zines will retain the length and look of the current issue. We college on the UH campus. Expect more misspelled words will continue to have several feature articles (such as those and incomplete sentences and thoughts in his future letters on the Ideson building in this issue), followed by recurring from the editor. The new staff consists of Jamie Quiroga departments with articles on historic preservation, culture and Debbie Harwell, with assistance from Ernesto Valdes, (high and low), neighborhoods, museums, and interviews the director of the Oral History of Houston. We have an with interesting Houstonians. The next issue in July will enlarged and perhaps more active board headed by Bill feature articles on sports in Houston. The following issue Kellar, with new members Fred Korge, Jim Saye, Betty in November will be on the history of what I still call the Chapman, and Penny Jones (for a complete list, see opposite Houston Fat Stock Show. If you have ideas for these or page). While planning future issues, we also are building a future issues, let us know. TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE ARTICLES Page 2 Julia Bedford Ideson: A Woman For All Seasons by Betty Chapman Volume 6 • Number 2 • Spring 2009 EDITORIAL STAFF Joseph A. Pratt, Editor Jamie Quiroga, Managing Editor Debbie Harwell, Associate Editor Page 7 The Preservation and Expansion of the Julia Ideson Bryan Hall, Circulation Manager Building by Barry Moore Marsha Van Horn, Designer ADVISORY BOARD Kathleen Brosnan Penny Jones David Bush Fred Korge Betty Trapp Chapman Louis Marchiafava Barbara Eaves Martin Melosi HISTORIC PRESERVATION Steven Fenberg Jim Saye Page 10 The Long Journey of the Merchants and Manufacturers Cliff Gillock Elizabeth White Building by Garna L. Christian Will Howard Cary Wintz Harold Hyman EDITORIAL POLICY Houston History is published three times a year by the Center for Public History at the University Page 16 The Demolition of the Shamrock Hilton Hotel: Motivation of Houston. We welcome manuscripts, inter- for a Preservation Culture views, and photographic essays on the history and by Diana Sanders culture of the Houston region, broadly defined. All correspondence should be sent to Houston History, University of Houston, Department of History, 524 Agnes Arnold Hall, Houston, TX 77204-3003 (713-743-3123). The web site is www. history.uh.edu/houstonhistory. We also welcome ideas for topical issues; these can be sent to the MUSEUMS above address or to [email protected]. Page 22 CONVERSATION WITH...Larry Gregory, president of the Subscriptions are $10 per year for students, $15 Lone Star Flight Museum and William H. Kellar per year for individuals, and $25 per year for institutions. Single issues and back issues are available for $10. © 2009 by the Center for Public History. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this issue or any portion of it is expressly prohibited without NEIGHBORHOOD written permission of the publisher. The Center for Public History disclaims responsibility for Page 32 Bolivar Memories by Joe Pratt statements of fact and opinions of contributors. POSTMASTER Send address changes to: University of Houston Center for Public History 524 Agnes Arnold Hall READER’S FORUM Houston, TX 77204-3003 Page 38 Memories of Bolivar and the LINN hoUse byHilda Lobez Page 40 NEWS BRIEFS by Barbara Eaves Vol. 6, No. 2–Preservation 1 A Woman For All Seasons Julia Bedfordby Betty Trapp Chapman Ideson: he Rice Hotel was the setting for a festive gathering sity.”6 The letter continued by giving a strong recommendation on the evening of April 30, 1929. The distinguished for Ideson, particularly emphasizing her “admirable and oblig- crowd included prominent Houstonians involved in the profes- ing disposition” as well as her “quick and intelligent mind.”7 sions, the business world and the city’s social life. Occupying the Just one day later, Ideson applied for the position of librarian for place of honor was a brown-eyed, gray-haired woman dressed Houston’s public library, then under construction. A postscript in white georgette with a rose silk cape thrown gracefully over to her letter of application pointed to her practical education as her shoulders. Her name was Julia Ideson and she was there to well as her literary one with this sentence: “I may add that I use receive the Torchbearer of the Year Award given by the Women’s the typewriter, as you probably know, a requisite of the modern Advertising Club to the city’s outstanding professional woman.1 librarian.”8 The occasion marked the intelligent, energetic Ideson’s twenty- Over the next several months, many letters of recommen- five-year tenure directing the Houston Public Library while also dation were sent to the Library Board from faculty members recognizing her civic contributions. in Austin describing Ideson as being “unusually energetic, Julia Bedford Ideson’s life began, not in Texas, but in wide awake, and ambitious,”9 and having “an uncommonly Hastings, Nebraska on July 15, 1880. Young Julia attended keen intellect and a pleasing personality.”10 Not until October Visitation Academy, a convent school where she received an 1903, however, was Julia Ideson officially hired as librarian by education rich in classical studies but also steeped in practical the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library Association.11 In subjects such as bookkeeping, typewriting and stenography.