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Edward Albert Palmer Memorial Chapel and Autry House

Texas, US

Edward Albert Palmer Memorial Chapel and Autry House

The Edward Albert Palmer Memorial Chapel and Autry House is a two-part building complex located at Rice University in Houston, Texas. It houses the James L. Autry House, which was built in 1921 by the Episcopal Church as a community center for the university. A temporary community center was built o

n the location (at 6265 Main Blvd.) in 1919 by Rev. Harris Masterson, Jr., and replaced in 1921 with a permanent building designed by architects Cram & Ferguson and William Ward Watkin. Due to the lack of public gathering areas at Rice University before the opening of the Fondren Library in 1949, and aided by the cheap food served by the Autry House's cafeteria, it became the university's de facto community center for several decades. A student chapel was built next door in 1927, quickly expanding into a full-fledged church, Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, in 1929. As Rice University's campus added a number of community facilities in the 1940s and 1950s that rendered those at Autry House redundant, the house began outreach towards students and employees at the Texas Medical Center, and continued to operate a cafeteria. The house was renovated in the 1970s, and added an art gallery focusing...

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