DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, friends. Now let me give you the full story as Duane sees it. Somewhere on the University of Texas campus in Travis County stands a building that has lived more than one life — and the story of how it got where it is today is worth every mile of road it took you to get here.
Construction ran from 1912 to 1914, and when it was finished, Austin had itself the seventh United States post office location in town. Seventh. Which means six came before it, and somebody decided this one ought to be done right.
The man with the pencil was James Knox Taylor, supervising architect out of the U.S. Treasury Department, and he gave the place what the marker calls a neo-classical revival style. Clean lines.
Authority in every stone. The kind of building that makes you stand up a little straighter just walking past it. The construction work fell to Dieter and Wenzel Construction Company, out of Wichita, Kansas, and when the final tally came in, the building itself had cost one hundred seventy-two thousand, nine hundred and eighty-seven dollars.
The land underneath it ran another forty thousand. You do that math and you start to appreciate what the federal government was willing to spend to make sure Austin's mail moved with dignity. Now, a building like that, it doesn't stay one thing forever.
In 1965, a new post office and federal building came along, and just like that, the old girl's original purpose was done. But here's where the story takes a turn worth telling — the federal government gave the building to the University of Texas system. Gave it.
And in 1970, the university remodeled it into administrative offices. Then came the naming, and that's what seals this story. The building was named in honor of Claudia Taylor Johnson — wife of the 36th President of the United States of America.
A post office turned into something more lasting than any letter that ever passed through its doors. Not bad for a building that started out helping Austin keep in touch with the rest of the world.
What the marker says
Claudia Taylor Johnson Hall The University of Texas System Constructed during the period 1912-1914. This building was the seventh United States post office location in Austin, Texas. The supervising architect for the neo-classical revival style structure was James Knox Taylor of the U.S. Treasury Department. It was built by Dieter and Wenzel Construction Company of Wichita, Kansas, at a cost of $172,987. The land cost $40,000. Following construction of a new post office and federal building in 1965, the building was given to the University of Texas system by the federal government; it was remodeled into administrative offices by the university in 1970. The building was named in honor of Claudia Taylor Johnson, wife of the 36th president of the United States of America.