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Gates Memorial Library

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1917, Warren and Wetmore; 1954 addition, Staub, Rather and Howze, and Lawrence Vidrine; 2004 addition, Moore, Stansbury and Vaught. 317 Stilwell Blvd.
  • (Photograph by Gerald Moorhead )

Located at the foot of Port Arthur's central cross axis, Stilwell Boulevard, the Gates Memorial Library set an extremely high standard for public architecture, to which Port Arthur's institutions sought to measure up until the 1970s. Dellora Baker Gates built Port Arthur's former public library as a memorial to her husband, John W. Gates, and their only child, Charles Gates. Designed by New York City architects Warren and Wetmore, it is a monumental neoclassical block faced with gray Bedford, Indiana, limestone. After the public library outgrew the building, it became the library of Lamar University–Port Arthur in 1980. J. T. Rather Jr. of Houston, with Lawrence Vidrine of Port Arthur, designed the dignified rear addition.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Port Arthur Independent School District Performing Arts Building (Woodrow Wilson Junior High School)
Solid Rock Methodist Church (First Methodist Church)
Pompeian Villa Museum
First National Bank Building
Jefferson County Sub-Courthouse

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Gates Memorial Library", [Port Arthur, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-OP16.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 383-383.

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