U.S. Post Office and Federal Building
National Register of Historic Places

U.S. Post Office and Federal Building

Austin, Travis County, Texas
Listed
August 24, 1970
Type
Building
Period
Early Republic
Ref No.
70000771

About this property

O. Henry Hall, formerly known as the U.S. Post Office and Federal Building, is a historic courthouse and post office in Austin, Texas, United States. It is located within the Sixth Street Historic District in Downtown Austin. O. Henry Hall serves as the administrative headquarters of the Texas State University System (TSUS), and until 2017 served as the University of Texas System headquarters. Architect James G. Hill designed the building, and it was constructed partially under the supervision of architect Abner Cook. The courthouse was completed in 1879 at a cost of $200,000. The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas met there from then until 1936. One of its most noted trials occurred in February 1898, when William Sidney Porter – the man who later became known under the pen name of O. Henry – was tried and convicted of embezzlement. It was acquired by the University of Texas System in 1968 and renamed for the author, who had previously resided nearby in what is now officially called the William Sidney Porter House, but is better known as the O. Henry House. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1970. It previously served as the administrative headquarters of that system. TSUS purchased O. Henry Hall in 2015 for $8.2 million. The UT System leased it and continued using it as its administrative headquarters prior to the 2017 completion of the UT System's current headquarters. TSUS did the move so it could have a single administrative office in Downtown; it formerly occupied three different downtown buildings operated by the state government. List of United States federal courthouses in Texas Media related to O. Henry Hall at Wikimedia Commons Federal Judicial Center page on the United States Court House and Post Office O.Henry Hall – O'Connell Architecture (company doing architectural restoration for TSUS offices)

Location

126 W. 6th St.
Austin, Travis County, Texas
30.26875, -97.74374

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

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Questions about this property

When was U.S. Post Office and Federal Building listed on the National Register?

U.S. Post Office and Federal Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 24, 1970.

What type of historic resource is U.S. Post Office and Federal Building?

U.S. Post Office and Federal Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for U.S. Post Office and Federal Building?

The period of significance for U.S. Post Office and Federal Building is recorded as the early_republic era.

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