Completed in 1857, the General Land Office building on the state's Capitol grounds is both the oldest surviving state government office building in Austin and the first ever one designed by a university-trained architect. Its architecture blends two 19th century architectural styles: the Rundbogenstil/Rondbogenstijl -- or "round-arched" -- style (as reflected in the windows and store) and the Norman style (as reflected in the castle-like parapets). Its exterior walls are made of limestone rubble which was smoothed over with stucco and then scored to look like cut stone blocks. Some old pictures of the building soon after its original construction can be found
here.
Per the
Texas State Historical Association:
"The Old Land Office Building, on the southeast corner of the Capitol grounds in Austin, was designed in 1854 by Christoph Conrad Stremme, a German-born architect who was a draftsman for the General Land Office. Construction began in mid-1857, with brick and wood hauled from Bastrop and stone from a place called Boulton's Quarry. The completed building, a 2½-story Romanesque Revival structure of stuccoed stone and brick, was opened for business in the spring of 1858. William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) was employed in the Land Office from January 1887 to January 1891. At least one of his short stories was set in the building.
In 1917, after the General Land Office moved to a new building, the legislature appropriated $10,000 for renovation of the old building and provided that it should be set aside for use of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the Texas Division of the Daughters of the Confederacyqv. In 1932 the building was reroofed and the outside walls were stuccoed. The Daughters of the Confederacy and the Daughters of the Republic maintained the building without state support and operated separate museums on the first and second floors. The building was registered as a state historical landmark in 1962 and received a historical medallion in 1964; it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. In April 1989 the legislature approved a $4.5 million renovation project to restore the building to an 1890s-era style, and the Daughters of the Confederacy and the Daughters of the Republic museums were moved to other quarters. The renovated building includes a first-floor permanent exhibit on the history of the Capitol, as well as second-floor space for traveling exhibits.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Austin American-Statesman, March 6, 1989."
Last but not least, a full accounting of the building, its architect, and its draftsman -- per the
Texas Historical Commission Atlas (whose narrative is on file at the NRHP):
"The Old Land Office building is an example of the Rundbogenstil, a German style of the 30s and 40s that derived from the Romanesque and Renaissance styles, built by a capable German architect at the height of the popularity of the Greek Revival style in Texas. It is symmetrical and is a raised two story and attic structure of stuccoed stone and brick. The roof is pitched and there are two end pavilions with crenellated parapets. The main facade is vertically divided into three bays by incised strips, and horizontally divided into three stories by string courses. The openings are all round arched with raised panels forming arched drip molds. The interior is vaulted and there is a large second story drafting room (now a museum). There is a feeling of solidity and massive stability in the handling of the exterior proportions.
Texas has the distinction of being the only state to have retained control of both its public lands and the burden of its public debt. Thus, it has the only Land Office in the United States outside of Washington, D.C. The Land Office keeps original maps, field notes, and papers pertaining to and grants and sales of property; it houses the administrators and records of Texas public lands.
The first Land office was built on the north-west corner of the capitol grounds. Almost before it was finished, however, the Legislature decided it was inadequate. It was not fireproof, and many officials feared the loss of valuable state papers. In 1856, the Texas Sixth Legislature appropriated $40,000 for the building of a new Land Office. The contract went to William Baker and Q. Nichols for $39,000 and Conrad C. Stremme, draftsman, was hired as architect.
Stremme had an impressive architectural career. Before he immigrated to Texas in 1849, he had served as a member of the Royal Hanoverian Commission of Public Buildings. He was member of the Society for the Advancement of Industry, and he served as a professor of architecture at Dorpat (present day Tartu). He received a Russian order and title of hiereditary nobleman for outstanding work in architecture, and he was of a court councilor to Russian Emperor Nicholas I. In 1849, Stremme came to Texas and joined Lieutenant N. Michler's exploration party in the Rio Grande area. In 1855, he became a draftsman with the General Land Office, and by 1857, he had completed the new land office.
Stremme designed a three-story building which was fire proof and large enough to hold all the documents pertaining to Texas lands. The style of the building was German Romanesque; its construction massmasonry. External walls were 2.5 feet thick rough rubble stone masonry. Internal walls were two feet thick, of stone and brick masonry.
William Sidney Porter, popularly known as O. Henry, worked in the Land Office as a draftsman from 1887-1891. The scene of his short story, "bexar Script no. 2692," is set in the building.
In 1916, the state made plans to construct a new Land Office, and a year later the thirty-fifth Legislature appropriated $10,000 for the renovation of the old building. In 1932, the building was reroofed and the outside walls stuccoed. Latest renovations include landscaping and the use of the first two floors for a museum of Texas history. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FILE IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER"