Reading Room, Austin History Center – Austin, Texas

I’ve been to the Austin History Center a few times and most recently to attend a public meeting on the future of Austin transportation. It’s a lovely building that became Austin’s first permanent library, completed in 1933. This is in stark contrast to Austin’s newest central library, completed in 2017.

The reading room is classic, complete with brass lamps with green glass shades. What it lacks in modern slickness and scale, it makes up for it in a cozy old-world charm.

The Austin History Center is the repository of the old photographs of Austin. The kinds you see in books, posters, and newspaper articles. Someday, I’ll have to dig through the archives but just a quick visit to see the building is worth the trip.

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