The newly renovated Griffith Building in Downtown Round Rock now serves as the home for the Round Rock Chamber, the Round Rock Visitors Center and The City Arts Center.
The overview
The 44,000-square-foot building features an art gallery, space for visitors to learn more about the city and, on the second floor, multiple conference rooms and offices for the Round Rock Chamber.
Adjacent to the Griffith Building, the city recently completed the downtown paseo that stretches from the Round Rock Public Library down to Main Street.
Diving deeper
The $19.5 million project was funded by the city’s Type B sales tax revenues, hotel occupancy tax revenues and around $4.2 million came from the city’s general self finance construction budget.
The Griffith Building previously played several roles in downtown Round Rock, including serving as a fire house, auto shop, city hall and the former library.
The Chamber held a reception on Jan. 22 to celebrate the building’s Founder’s Wall—a display honoring the businesses and community members that have helped support the Round Rock Chamber Foundation’s initiatives.
“There was a lot of talk of where we would put the [Chamber] building … We looked at a number of locations, and it’s exactly where it’s supposed to be—right in our downtown,” Mayor Craig Morgan said.
One more thing
The City Arts Center is staffed and managed by the city of Round Rock Arts and Culture department.
The art gallery on the first floor of the Griffith Building currently features work by artist Linda Murray. A reception for her exhibit, “Chapters,” will be held from 4-8 p.m., Jan. 29.
Admission into the arts center is free.
The space will also be the home of a custom glass sculpture by internationally recognized artist Dale Chihuly. The $360,000 sculpture will be designed as a glass chandelier measure roughly nine feet tall.