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Jane Dunn Sibley Symphony Square

Jane Dunn Sibley Symphony Square, an attractive complex of four historic limestone building and a 350-seat amphitheatre at the corner of Red River and 11th St. in Downtown Austin, TX, is thought to be the only restoration project in the United States that houses the offices of a symphony orchestra. It is the home of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and the complex serves a growing audience 12 months a year.

The Symphony Square Project, begun in 1971, was conceived and directed by Jane Sibley and Peggy Brown, prominent citizens on a wave of civic awareness. It was sponsored jointly by the Austin Urban Renewal Agency, the City of Austin, and the Austin Symphony Orchestra. The Square is within easy walking distance of State Capitol grounds, the LBJ Library and other downtown Austin tourist attractions.

The property includes the Jeremiah Hamilton Building, the Michael Doyle House, the Hardeman House and the New Orleans Club Mercantile, as well as a 350-seat stone amphitheatre where the Austin Symphony hosts Children’s Day Art Park every Wednesday morning in June and July for youngsters pre-school through age nine. Children’s Day features performances by local entertainers, an Instrument Petting Zoo, storytelling and arts activities under a large tent next to the Doyle House.

In 1971, a limestone building at the corner of 11th and Red River streets, painted green and known as “The Eleventh Door,” was condemned by Austin Urban Renewal, as was the New Orleans Club, located at the other end of the block, 12th & Red River. The Austin Symphony needed a home and Peggy Brown, a member of the Women’s Symphony League of Austin, seeing definite restoration possibilities in this ugly green building went to the Symphony Board and proposed the ASO restore this building and house their administration offices there. She and Jane Sibley went to work to secure funds from the Urban Renewal, individuals and foundations. The building was brought back to life, emphasizing “adaptive restoration.” One building project led to another—the 350-seat amphitheatre, the three other buildings in the Square, and the many and varied activities that could take place in them. It was anticipated that the Square could soon become self-supporting and eventually be a money-making venture for the ASO.

Jeremiah Hamilton

The Jeremiah Hamilton Building is triangular in shape, one of only three known still existing in Texas, and built of limestone rubble with a cut stone façade. From the best interpretation of early records, it was built in 1871 by Jeremiah Hamilton. The land was originally platted and recorded in 1840, remaining unimproved for many years due to the unusual terrain along the creek. The majority of the block was patented by Swante Magnus Swenson in 1856, Lot 3 having been patented by Thomas Puckett in 1849. Swenson was to become a major Texas landowner. In 1858 he presented these six lots to Reverend Charles Gillette, rector of the Church of the Epiphany. The Reverend abhorred slavery, and not being a Confederate sympathizer, left Austin in 1866. All his lots were later sold to freed black men and women.

Lot 1 at Mesquite (now 11th) St. and Red River changed hands many times. Joseph Carter had purchased the lot in December 1868 for $75, but sold it only 8 months later for $100. The greater price and the fact that his wife also signed in the sale indicates some sort of structure on the property. Jeremiah J. Hamilton, of Bastrop, purchased the lot in 1871 and evidence suggests he built the present stone structure at that time, serving as his residence and possibly a grocery store, as the Austin census of the time lists his occupation as a grocer at one point.

Hamilton was a black political and civic leader, born in Tennessee in July 1838. He arrived in Texas as a slave in 1847 at the age of 9. After emancipation he married a woman named Ellen in 1867 and had seven children, five of whom survived. He lived in Bastrop County and became a spokesman for black workers as early as 1866. He acquired land in the county and served as a land trustee for blacks. He had become literate even as a slave and established an early school for African Americans after the Civil War. IN 1866 he served as a secretary for the Texas State Central Committee of Colored Men, which opposed white paternalism and worked with the Freedmen’s Bureau. He was selected for the board that registered voters in Bastrop County during 1867. Thereafter, he ran successfully in 1869 for the Texas House of Representatives in the 12th Legislature as a Republican, one of only 11 blacks elected. As a legislator he generally favored bills to advance law enforcement, education and civil rights. One resolution he offered passed on July 14, 1870. It read:

“If any person or persons shall make use of profane or indecent language or indulge in any loud of boisterous conversation in any street or in public highway or in any store, hotel or other public place of or where he or they can be distinctly heard by any females, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and for such and every offence shall be fined, on conviction, in any sum no less than 10 dollars nor more than 100 dollars.”

After his legislative term, Hamilton remained in Austin, where he worked primarily as a carpenter. His greatest achievement as a craftsman came with the construction of the unusual triangular house which stands at Symphony Square. In part because of health problems, he turned to the newspaper business; he was owner and editor of the Austin Citizen in the mid-1880s and the National Union in the early 1890s, and in 1903 was an agent for the Austin Watchman. All three papers circulated primarily in the black community.

Hamilton also remained active as a leader in political and civic affairs. Her served as one of the vice-presidents at the state Republican convention in 1876 and as one of the secretaries for the party convention in 1878. When the first Colored Men’s State Convention met in 1873, he was a member of the committees on credentials and address. He became a delegate to black state and national conventions in 1883. At a similar state meeting in 1884, he served on several committees and gave the opening address. He appeared for the last time in a leadership role as a member of two committees during the black state convention of 1891. Hamilton apparently died early in the 20th century for his name disappeared from the Austin city directories after 1905. Due to the burning of the Texas State Capitol in 1881, any known portrait of Hamilton was destroyed, and no other likeness has ever been found.

The Jeremiah Hamilton Building

Before entering the front door, we are under a porch, which was restored, as a picture from 1882 showed these balconies on the front and side (along 11th St.). The metal poles are authentic. However, since the building is already 1-1/2 feet into the right-of-way, only the front balcony was restored. After the green plaster was removed, the original windows were located and put back to their original appearance, and the stone reappointed.

Inside is a perfect example of adaptive restoration. The entire interior was gutted and offices built where they could best serve the building’s new life. The beaded planking on the walls and ceiling is a reproduction. The staircase was moved to its present location.

The Post Office window was given by Dewey Bradford of Bradford Paint Co., who acquired it in an interesting manner. About 80 years ago, an artist came from England to paint the Governor’s portrait. Mr. Bradford advanced paint supplies and money for room and board, to be repaid when the portrait was completed. Instead, the artist skipped town. However, later, in 1937, the painter’s conscience bothering him, he sent Mr. Bradford the old Post office window as payment. Mr. Bradford later donated the window to Symphony Square. The iron grillwork is from a savings & loan, owned by Mr. Fred Morse, the first S&L in Austin.

The letter on the wall is a facsimile of one from Sam Houston. The original was felt to be too valuable to display.

Upstairs is the former Jesse Jones Board Room. The tin ceiling is a reproduction from Illinois. The etched glass windows were designed and executed by Renaissance Glass in Austin.

In the north corner of the building is a former two-room apartment that was used by an artist in residence. The Austin Symphony hired the artists on six-month contracts to serve as a caretaker for the Square and to perform in the News Orleans Club Mercantile when it was reopened in the mid-1970s.

The basement of the building was excavated in the restoration to afford more storage and provide access to the performance stage.

From the Hamilton Building we cross a stone bridge, which was not original, but constructed by Urban Renewal to tie the Square together.

The Well

The well is a natural stacked rock well, 30 feet deep. It was discovered in 1975, 4 days before Christmas, by the stonemason laying the paving stones. An artificial well had been planned for the Square. It was formally lit to show to children. Unfortunately, the well is now sealed for safety.

The McCraven-Wilson House (New Orleans Club Mercantile)

The New Orleans Club is shown on a map of 1872 at its original location near the corner of 12th and Red River, but was possibly built as early as 1856. The French doors were probably original and it is thought the building’s first use was as a carriage house. It is constructed of native limestone with a lean-to at the rear, typical of early Texas houses. Architecturally, it is a copy of an early Texas residence floor plan. Originally there was a dirt floor, but this has been covered with a wooden one.

The New Orleans Club Mercantile was moved to the present site in September 1975 after a concrete slab was poured under it, the walls boxed in, and the whole structure jacked up.

The interior was furnished to give an old general store feeling (it was the Wilson Country Store in the early 1900s), with the original proprietor’s desk in the corner behind a balustrade, and the pot-bellied stove. The bar was built from giant 8’ thick by 20’ long planks, which were used as studs for an old lumber mill in West Texas. The wall behind the bar is built with lumber from the original roof decking of the building. It is rough hewn because charring from an earlier fire had to be scraped off. This wall replaced a thick cement wall and enlarged the room a few feet to give additional space.

The building is considered to be the first Texas Rangers Headquarters, and served at various times as a grocery, pet shop, and other uses until it’s most recent as a bar, when it was converted to a replica of a house from the New Orleans French Quarter and named the New Orleans Club. Ernie Mae Miller played piano and sang here. It is also rumored to have been a jail and a house for ladies of the evening. It was opened as the New Orleans Club Mercantile in 1976, where the Women’s Symphony League operated a tea room and gift shop.

The Hardeman House

The earliest indication of this house placed it at 401 E. 16th St. (formerly Cherry St.) in 1863. General William Polk Hardeman, a prominent state official, rented the house from 1880-1888; thus the name, though it was built by Charles Behnke.

Around the house, numerous other homes were constructed, and in 1866 Scholtz Garten was built nearby and the area became predominantly German. Another name frequently attached to the house is that of Hendrichs. A native of Berlin, Germany, Ida Bellin Henrichs Wedig, the 1905 purchaser, was visiting Texas in 1877when she met William Henrichs at Scholtz Garten. He was from Germany; he came here on a naval expedition in 1863 and was impressed into the Union Army when his ship landed in New Orleans. He died in 1891, leaving two sons, and Ida later married, moving into this house she had purchased. From 1938 on, some member of the Henrichs family lived there, her son having inherited it.

Brigadier General William Polk (Old Gotch) Hardeman fought in both the Texas War of Independence and the Civil War, and was first cousin to President James K. Polk. He was a Texas Ranger and public servant with state government in many capacities. He fought the Comanches in the Battle of Plum Creek in 1840, voted for secession in 1861 as a member of the Secession Convention, and raised a force from Guadalupe and Caldwell counties to form the 800-man Company A of Colonel Spruce M. Baird’s 4th Texas Cavalry Regiment, part of Henry H. Sibley’s New Mexico Brigade.

When General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Hardeman, like his cousin Peter Hardeman and thousands of other Confederates, became an exile. He joined a company of fifteen high-ranking officers, eluded General Philip H. Sheridan, and escaped to Mexico. There he served briefly as a battalion commander in Maximilian’s army and became a settlement agent for a Confederate colony near Guadalajara. In1866, he returned to Texas, where he served as inspector of railroads, superintendent of public buildings and grounds, and superintendent of the Texas Confederate Home in Austin. He also was one of the founders of the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M). He died of Bright’s disease (an historical classification of kidney diseases) in April of 1898 and was buried in the State Cemetery. Thus the Texas Historical Commission marked the house in 1962 as the Hardeman House.

Hardeman House was moved to its present location on Labor Day weekend, 1976, three years later than originally planned. Peggy Brown, then President of the Women’s Symphony league, planned a Street Dance in front of the house in hopes it could be moved that midnight (instead of three years later).

The L-shaped house was built in the classic stone tradition of many early Texas homes. The bay window and porch were added in the early 1900s. When the Daughters of the American Revolution bought the house in 1952 (and used it as their headquarters, selling it to Urban Renewal in 1970) it was discovered that Abner Cooke, a prominent architect, had been involved in the porch construction. It was then decided to add the typical “Abner Cooke” railings. The garden room and basement are additions for the Symphony Square installation to afford more space for the restaurant; however, a garden room would have been a normal addition. To add the basement, the excavation was done and walls were concreted before the house was moved, then filled back in. after the house was rolled over the filled hole, the dirt was once again removed. The Hardeman House is presently Café Serranos, with a private party room in the basement and a bar in the “garden room.”

In the Square, the old street lights were given by the Austin Electric Department. The ticket booth was added as an afterthought, for use during Symphony Square functions, like the current Family Concert.

Bronze Bust, Fountain and Watering Trough

The bronze bust in the Square is of Dr. Thomas Iglehart, a prominent Texas doctor, philanthropist and Confederate field surgeon. He died in 1903 and his widow commissioned prominent sculptor Elisabet Ney to do a bronze bust which was completed in a short time and cast in Berlin. The unusual granite horse watering trough was supplied by Joe Mackin of Austin. It was originally erected in 1904 at 21st St. and Speedway. In 1933 Speedway was closed through the University of Texas campus and the memorial moved to the Elisabet Ney Museum, where it remained until coming to Symphony Square on permanent loan. The fountain was restored by the management of Café Serranos in 2008.

Lemonade Trail

Along Waller Creek and reached by steps to the right of the amphitheatre is the Lemonade Trail, a creekside walk running from Symphony Square under 11th St. to the Michael Doyle House. This is the route taken by the children attending Children’s Day Art Park to performances and lemonade at the Doyle House. An old oak tree near the footbridge stands guard at the Doyle House. During the Square's construction it was greatly aided by enforcements done by Brother Daniel of St. Edward’s University. The tree is nearly 500 years old, and erosion along Waller Creek had caused many of the roots to be bared, making the tree lean badly. Now, however, its health has been restored.

The Michael Doyle House

The center of the Square’s Children’s Day Art Park and community programs is the Michael Doyle House, built after the Civil War, appearing on an 1872 map of Austin, by the D’Orsey’s of Canada. Originally sited at 306 E. 14th St., it was offered to Symphony Square by Urban Renewal in 1970 and moved to its present location on June 3, 1975. The first recorded owner of the house was Michael Doyle, whose family lived there until 1895. There followed a variety of owners and uses, such as a beauty salon and offices. It is currently the headquarters for the Women’s Symphony League of Austin.

The residence has limestone rubble walls with segmental arched lintels over the windows and doors. The hipped-roof house is simply detailed. A box cornice with a diminutive crown and bed mold is one of the chief architectural embellishments. Small, scroll-shaped brackets are widely spaced along the cornice, appearing only above the apertures. The main entrance has an oval-lighted transom and a paneled door with two long narrow glazed panels and a molded panel at the base, which echoes the transom design.

The Doyle House has a central-hall plan design with two chambers on each side of the hall (similar to a dig run house). The two rooms on the west side of the house were made into one by turning the fireplace, giving a large area for meetings, music practices and children’s activities. The house has lost it shutters. Over the main entrance hangs a small cast iron porch, which was a later addition. There are no indications on the outside stone walls of any major changes or alterations. This house is one of the few remaining good examples of a simple one-story vernacular stone cottage in Austin. The back porch was added for use during children’s activities.

The current picket fence has been recently replaced and copies one that was specially constructed from a photograph of a fence of the time on the other side of the creek. The sundial is a replica of a sundial typical of the period, given as the Junior Women’s Club Bicentennial gift. The flagpole in the circular drive was given as a gift by the Texas Sesquicentennial Commission.

Turfstone Parking Lots

The three unusual parking lots at Symphony Square are of turfstone, an attractive paving material which lowers the heat reflected in the area and purifies and slows water runoff into Waller Creek.