The Woodson recently acquired a scrapbook containing twenty-nine professional photographs of the Esperson Building in downtown Houston, newly completed in 1926:
At thirty-two stories it was then the tallest building in town and extremely ornate. Here are a couple of the images:
I’m guessing that’s a bust of Mr. Esperson in the entry:
And this chic woman could possibly be Mrs. Esperson:
Even the vault is impressive:
But the reason I’m interested in this scrapbook is a little less exciting. As soon as the building opened the Rice Institute moved their offices here from the Scanlan Building:
I suspect that this more mundane image of one of the office corridors up on a higher floor is what it would have looked like as you walked down the hallway and approached our rooms:
Bonus: Speaking of offices, as soon as I saw this I regretted that I hadn’t thought of it myself.
