Texas State Capitol, Austin TX | Nearby Businesses

• Government Organization
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• Landmark

1100 Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78701

The Texas Governor's Mansion, also known simply as Governor's Mansion is a historic home for the Governor of Texas in downtown Austin, Texas. It was built in 1854, designed by prominent architect Abner Cook, and has been the home of every governor since 1856. Governor Greg Abbott and First Lady Cecilia Phalen Abbott are the 40th family to live in the Texas Governor's Mansion and Abbott is the 41st governor to live in the mansion full-time.On June 8, 2008, while midway through a major renovation, the mansion was badly damaged by an arson fire started with a Molotov cocktail.HistoryThe mansion is the oldest continuously inhabited house in Texas and fourth oldest governor's mansion in the United States that has been continuously occupied by a chief executive. The mansion was the first-designated Texas historic landmark, in 1962. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as "Governor's Mansion" in 1970, and further was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1974.Original architectureBuilt by Abner Cook in a Greek Revival style and completed in 1856, the building occupies the center of a block and is surrounded by trees and gardens. The original mansion was 6000sqft. Remodeling in 1914 increased the size of the mansion to 8920sqft. The original mansion had 11 rooms but no bathrooms. The remodeling brought the room count to 25 rooms and 7 bathrooms. In 1931, at the recommendation of former Texas First Lady Mildred Paxton Moody, the Forty-second Texas Legislature established the Board of Mansion Supervisors to oversee all interior and exterior upkeep and enhancements to the mansion. Mrs. Moody was the first head of the Board, which was abolished in 1965.

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The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per constituency, based on the 2010 U.S. Census. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. Elections are held in even numbered years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. In elections ending in years ending in 2, all seats are up for election. Half of the senators will serve a two-year term, based on a drawing; the other half will fill regular four-year terms. As such, in other elections, about half of the Texas Senate is on the ballot. The Senate meets at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. The Republicans currently control the chamber, which is made up of 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats, as of January 13, 2015.LeadershipThe Lieutenant Governor of Texas serves as the President of the Senate. The Lieutenant Governor's duties include presiding over the Senate, appointing chairs of committees, committee members, assigning and referring bills to specific committees, recognizing members during debate, and making procedural rulings. The Lieutenant Governor may also cast a vote should a Senate floor vote end in a tie. If the Senate votes to dissolve itself into the Committee of the Whole, in which all members are part of the Committee, the President Pro-Tempore presides over the proceedings, with the Lieutenant Governor acting as a regular voting member. Due to the various powers of committee selection and bill assignment, the Lieutenant Governor is arguably considered more powerful than the Governor of Texas, and is considered one of the most powerful lieutenant governorships in the United States.

The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per constituency, based on the 2010 U.S. Census. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. Elections are held in even numbered years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. In elections ending in years ending in 2, all seats are up for election. Half of the senators will serve a two-year term, based on a drawing; the other half will fill regular four-year terms. As such, in other elections, about half of the Texas Senate is on the ballot. The Senate meets at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. The Republicans currently control the chamber, which is made up of 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats, as of January 13, 2015.LeadershipThe Lieutenant Governor of Texas serves as the President of the Senate. The Lieutenant Governor's duties include presiding over the Senate, appointing chairs of committees, committee members, assigning and referring bills to specific committees, recognizing members during debate, and making procedural rulings. The Lieutenant Governor may also cast a vote should a Senate floor vote end in a tie. If the Senate votes to dissolve itself into the Committee of the Whole, in which all members are part of the Committee, the President Pro-Tempore presides over the proceedings, with the Lieutenant Governor acting as a regular voting member. Due to the various powers of committee selection and bill assignment, the Lieutenant Governor is arguably considered more powerful than the Governor of Texas, and is considered one of the most powerful lieutenant governorships in the United States.

The Secretary of State is one of six state officials named by the Texas Constitution to form the Executive Department of the State. The Secretary is appointed by the Governor, with confirmation by the Senate, and serves at the pleasure of the Governor. The Secretary serves as Chief Election Officer for Texas, assisting county election officials and ensuring the uniform application and interpretation of election laws throughout Texas. The Office of the Secretary of State also provides a repository for official and business and commercial records required to be filed with the Office. The Secretary publishes government rules and regulations and commissions notaries public. The Secretary also serves as keeper of the state seal and attestor to the Governor's signature on official documents. In addition, the Secretary serves as senior advisor and liaison to the Governor for Texas Border and Mexican Affairs, and serves as Chief International Protocol Officer for Texas.

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) is the state agency responsible for promoting and preserving homeownership, financing the development of affordable rental housing, supporting community and energy assistance programs, and colonia housing activities.

The General Land Office Building, completed in 1857, in Austin, Texas is the oldest surviving state government office building in the city and the first building designed by a university-trained architect (German architect Christoph Conrad Stremme). The building features a dramatic medieval castle style known as Rundbogenstil, or "rounded arch" around the windows and doors. There is also a Norman style influence in the castle-like parapets. The exterior walls are limestone rubble smoothed over with stucco and scored to simulate cut stone blocks.The building is located on the southeast corner of the Texas State Capitol grounds. One employee, William Sidney Porter - pen name O. Henry. Porter - worked in the office from 1887 to 1891, and would later attain fame as a writer. Some of his works would include those set at the building, such as "Bexar Script No. 2692" and "Georgia's Ruling".The building functioned as the state's land office building until 1917 when the agency moved to a larger building across the street. From 1919 until 1989, the building housed museums run by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Since 1983 our law librarians have helped thousands of Travis County residents find legal information. We can help you research legal questions, refer you to services, and direct you to websites and books. For those representing themselves in Travis County civil courts, the Law Library’s Self-Help Center can provide forms and information. In many agreed cases, the reference attorneys can meet with family law litigants to answer questions and review paperwork.

The Supreme Court of Texas is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency which the law considers to be a civil matter and not criminal) in the state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is the court of last resort for criminal matters in the State of Texas.The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The Court meets in Downtown Austin, Texas in a building located on the state Capitol grounds, behind the Texas State Capitol.Regulation of the legal profession in TexasBy statute, the Texas Supreme Court has administrative control over the State Bar of Texas, an agency of the judiciary. The Texas Supreme Court has the sole authority to license attorneys in Texas, and also appoints the members of the Board of Law Examiners which, under instructions of the Supreme Court, administers the Texas bar examination.Justices of the CourtThe Court has a Chief Justice and eight associate justices. Each member of the Court must be at least 35 years of age, a citizen of Texas, licensed to practice law in Texas, and must have practiced law (or have been a lawyer and a judge of a court of record together) for at least ten years. The Clerk of the Court is appointed by the Justices and serves a four-year term.

Wooldridge Park, also known as Wooldridge Square, is an urban park in downtown Austin, Texas. The park consists of a city block containing a natural basin whose sides slope inward to form an amphitheater with a bandstand at its center. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.HistoryWooldridge Park is one of four original public squares designated in downtown Austin in the 1839 master plan for the city drawn up by Edwin Waller, but it lay vacant for seventy years. In an era of civic pride in 1909, however, Austin Mayor A. P. Wooldridge sponsored the cleaning of the square and the construction of a classical revival-style gazebo for public engagements, which officially opened the same year. The park was dedicated on June 18, 1909 to considerable aplomb with dedicatory address being made by the Mayor. Mayor Wooldridge was instrumental in organizing the city's first public school system, in bringing the Austin & Northwestern Railroad here, and in building the first dam on the Colorado River within the city limits.Wooldridge Park is unique as the only public square in Austin to have retained its original function since its establishment more than one hundred thirty years ago. When the first city plans were drawn in 1840, four such squares were included. The other three underwent various uses over time, hosting parking lots, a fire station, a church, a museum, and businesses. Wooldridge Park alone has remained an essential element of Austin's outdoor social, musical, and political life.

Palazzo Lavaca was created with the vision of glamour among ruins, "the juxtaposition of peeling paint and crystal chandeliers, luxurious fabrics and threadbare rugs" makes it truly unique and utterly breathtaking.

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Stay downtown in an historic home on Austin's famous 6th Street. This lavishly furnished 4,600 + sf home lies in the heart of the Austin's nightlife, close to bars, music, great food and entertainment. This house has two kitchens, multiple entertaining areas and an indoor pool. This is an ideal rental space for SXSW. https://www.toptriprentals.com check us out on twitter https://twitter.com/410E6thSt

Cambridge Tower is a building in Austin, Texas, United States, that opened in 1965 as a luxury apartment tower. The building was designed by Dallas-based architect Thomas E. Stanley. It currently operates as a condominium.

Located in downtown Austin, the Byrne-Reed House is the headquarters of Humanities Texas. The gracious public spaces on the first floor provide a grand setting for rental events. The restoration also has captured public attention, receiving ten architectural awards and significant coverage in national and statewide magazines. The Byrne-Reed House embodies our organization’s commitment to heritage, culture, and education and dramatically highlights the importance of our work.

Littlefield Fountain is a monument by Italian-born sculptor Pompeo Coppini, located on the main campus of The University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas.The fountain was built with money from a $250,000 trust established by Major George W. Littlefield as a memorial for University of Texas students and alumni who died in The Great War, now commonly known as World War I. It was unveiled in 1933, at a time when the Old Main Building was still in use.The memorial fountain is enscribed in Latin with BREVIS A NATURA NOBIS VITA DATA EST AT MEMORIA BENE REDDITAE VITAE SEMPITERNA. Translation - "A short life hath been given by Nature unto man; but the remembrance of a life laid down in a good cause endureth forever." Beneath this inscription is a memorial bronze plaque that lists all UT students and alumni killed in The Great War.Major George W. Littlefield first envisioned this monument to be an arch that would honor Confederate heroes. Given that an arch would cost more than the $250,000 Littlefield had intended in donating, Coppini persuaded him to make a fountain instead. Coppini was also responsible of the idea of dedicating the fountain to the students that had died in World War I, arguing that a Confederate monument would only prolong the sentiment of division that was still present from the Civil War. Coppini's actual words were: "As time goes by, they will look to the Civil War as a blot on the pages of American history, and the Littlefield Memorial will be resented as keeping up the hatred between the Northern and Southern states."

Austin’s Historic Victory Grill Victory Grill is a historic music venue located at 1104 E. 11th St, Austin, Texas. The nightclub was on the Chitlin’ Circuit and hosted famous African American acts such as Bobby Bland, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, W. C. Clark and B. B. King when Austin was legally segregated. Victory Grill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 16, 1998. Johnny Holmes, a booking agent and band manager, opened the Victory Grill on Victory over Japan Day, 1945 as a restaurant and bar for black soldiers returning from the war. In the segregated south of the 1940′s, these servicemen could not walk into just any place to have a beer. The first incarnation of the Victory was a small “lean-to” building, but Holmes soon moved to a larger building next door. Holmes was also familiar with both the burgeoning Texas blues and jazz scenes, and soon, the club became known for its music as well as its food and drink. The club began attracting music lovers, no matter what their race. During its heyday in the 1950s, most of the popular national blues, rhythm and blues, and jazz acts that played Austin performed at the Victory Grill. Ike & Tina Turner, James Brown, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Chuck Berry and Janis Joplin were some of the artists who graced the stage. A resident of the area later quoted, “The Street was so crowded you could barely walk. It was like New Orleans.” Holmes leased the Victory Grill out in 1952, while he traveled to West Texas and then Alaska. When he returned in 1965, he was shocked at how much the area had declined. Integration had allowed affluent blacks to move to the suburbs. Also with desegregation, the Chitlin’ Circuit ceased to exist, as acts that were once confined to the Victory could now play many other venues. These two factors led to declining attendance and forced Holmes to close the nightclub portion of the Victory in the mid-1970s. Holmes kept the restaurant portion open, as the Victory’s food was still special enough to be a big draw. On Juneteenth weekend of 1987, East 11th came alive with music again at a large reunion bash that brought many of the Victory’s former musicians and fans together again. The Victory Grill closed for a period of time after October 10, 1988, when it suffered major damage from a fire that spread from an adjoining vacant building. Many movements and fundraisers were held in the following years to get the Victory Grill back open, but most met with tepid response at best. Finally, in 1995, R.V. Adams, a friend of Holmes began restoration efforts and the club re-opened in 1996. This initiated a cultural rebirth of the area, which had become a casualty of urban blight. The historic Victory Grill is one of the last remaining original Chitlin’ Circuit juke joints. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, archived by the Texas Historic Commission, and dubbed a “Texas Treasure” by the statewide organization Preservation Texas. It stands as an artifact to the development of a distinct American music tradition. The Victory Grill is experiencing a restoration that will bridge the era of the Chitlin’ Circuit to today’s urban contemporary sounds. The restoration and preservation of this working juke joint and café will provide performance opportunities and educational events that link past African-American musical forms and culture with the present. Under the new management of Another Option Productions and with booking and preservation assistance from Capitol View Arts, the Historic Victory Grill is now open for self-produced/private events, educational opportunities and cultural tourism.

Garrison Hall is a building located on the University of Texas at Austin campus. It is named after George Pierce Garrison, the history department's first chair and a founding member of the Texas State Historical Association. Construction began in 1925 and finished the following year.In 1927, the University separated the Department of Psychology out of the Department of Philosophy, and moved Psychology out of Garrison Hall and into Sutton Hall, where it would share space with the Department of Educational Psychology for the next 25 years.Important figures in Texas history, including Austin, Travis, Houston and Lamar, are set in stone along the hall, while walls under the building's eaves contains cattle brands.