The Badu Building is located in the City of Llano,

Llano County, Texas Llano County () is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 21,243. Its county seat is Llano, and the county is named for the Llano River. History The Tonkawa tribe were ...

. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Llano County, Texas in 1980, and designated a

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (RTHL) is a designation awarded by the Texas Historical Commission for historically and architecturally significant properties in the U.S. state of Texas. RTHL is a legal designation and the highest honor the st ...

in 1981. It has also been known as the Badu House and as the Carol Phelan Building. It is now being operated as a restaurant and private event space under the name Badu 1891. Designed by Larramour and Watson, the Badu Building was erected in 1890 by the Llano Improvement and Furnace Company, as the location of the newly chartered First National Bank. The building is constructed of local granite and locally manufactured red brick. The marble-floored street level with its carved wooden interiors were the public access portion of the bank. The second floor was designed for office space. The Llano Improvement and Furnace Company had been organized with the specific purpose of promoting land development in the area, but went bankrupt ''circa'' 1894. The building was sold to N. J. Badu in 1898 at a public auction. Until 1980, the building had been continuously owned by members of Badu's family. From 1907 to 1912, the building was leased to the First State Bank of Llano. The Badu family sold it in 1980. It has been used as a

bed and breakfast A bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. In addition, a B&B sometimes has the hosts living in the house. ''Bed and breakfast'' is also used to ...

facility, and as a restaurant.

N.J. Badu

N. J. Badu was a native of

Nancy, France Nancy is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the northeastern Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was Lorraine and Barrois, annexed by France under King Louis X ...

. Educated and trained as a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

in Europe, Badu emigrated from France to Mexico. From there, he traveled to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, eventually finding employment in Texas as an instructor of the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

, in the Lamar County town of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He married a woman from the same county by the name of Charlie Neal. After a subsequent career change, he gained some experience at hotel management in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

. During his tenure in Paris, Badu had heard much about the geology of Llano. He was hired by the Llano Improvement and Furnace Company to manage the Algona Hotel, the area's grand upscale establishment. When the Llano Improvement and Furnace Company went bankrupt, the Algona closed. Badu became employed as a manager of the

Driskill Hotel The Driskill, a Romanesque-style building completed in 1886,

in Austin, but maintained his home in Llano. Badu became a full-time mineralogist, with his laboratory based in Llano.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badu Building Commercial buildings completed in 1890 Buildings and structures in Llano County, Texas Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks National Register of Historic Places in Llano County, Texas

N.J. Badu

See also

References