{{Short description|Historic building in Texas, United States}} {{hatnote|For other uses of the community center's name, see James L. Autry House (disambiguation).}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Edward Albert Palmer Memorial Chapel and Autry House | nrhp_type = | image = Autry House - Jujutacular.jpg | caption = The building's exterior in 2014 | location = 6221 and 6265 Main St., Houston, Texas | coordinates = {{coord|29|42|57|N|95|23|47|W|display=inline}} | locmapin = Texas#USA | built = 1921 | added = October 31, 1984 | area = less than one acre | refnum = 84000388<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> | designated_other1 = RTHL | designated_other1_date = 1994 | designated_other1_number = [http://atlas.thc.texas.gov/Details/5201010599 10599] | designated_other1_num_position = bottom }}
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 on 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.<ref>{{cite book | author = Stephen Fox | title = Rice University | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 2001 | isbn = 1-56898-246-1 | pages = 200–202}}</ref><ref name=cornerstone>{{cite journal | author = Joan Ferry | title = Autry House | periodical = The Cornerstone | publisher = Rice Historical Society | year = 2008 | volume = 13 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–7 | url = http://ricehistoricalsociety.org/images/cornerstones/Cornerstone_W08.pdf}}</ref>
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 on the work of student artists; in the 1980s, it was opened to a number of community groups, such as the Houston Youth Chorus and the American Cancer Society. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.<ref name=cornerstone />
In 2001, the house was merged administratively and architecturally with Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church: a "bridge building" was built connecting the two buildings, and the church took over operation and maintenance of the house.<ref name=cornerstone />
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places within "Edward Albert Palmer Memorial Chapel and Autry House" in 1984. The listing included work designed by architects Ralph Adams Cram, William Ward Watkin, John Fanz Staub, and Pompeo Coppini.<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972252 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Edward Albert Palmer Memorial Chapel and Autry House |publisher=National Archives |author=Preservation Services |date=May 25, 1994 | accessdate=October 9, 2017 }} {{NationalArchivesNote}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Texas}} {{coord|29.7162|-95.3968|type:landmark_region:US-TX|display=title}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Edward Albert, Memorial Chapel and Autry House}} Category:1921 establishments in Texas Category:20th-century Episcopal church buildings Category:Sanguinet & Staats buildings Category:Houses completed in 1921 Category:Houses in Houston Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Category:National Register of Historic Places in Houston Category:Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks Category:Rice University