Bryan Municipal Building
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Children's Museum (Bryan Municipal Building)
1929, Giesecke and Harris. 111 E. 27th St.
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(Photograph by Gerald Moorhead )
For this former municipal building, Bertram E. Giesecke moved from the Classical Revival of his father's work at Texas A&M to an early expression of Moderne rendered in glazed terra-cotta. The two-story structure emulates a county courthouse, with slightly projecting center bays on each facade signaling the four entrances of a cross-axial plan. The three large central segmental-arched doors are actually the fire department, public entrances being at the ends. The facades have a vertical emphasis, with stacked paired windows slightly recessed from the wall plane. The resulting pilaster effect creates the impression of a classical colonnade, when in fact the wall is flat. Inset ornamental panels above the windows give the impression of a balustrade to top off the composition. The design effectively conveys a civic monumentality with minimal means.
Writing Credits
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Data
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Location: Bryan, TexasRegional Overviews:Architect:Materials:
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Citation
Gerald Moorhead et al., "Children's Museum (Bryan Municipal Building)", [Bryan, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-NS8.
Print Source
Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 113-113.
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