The Baker Center, previously the Baker School, Baker Junior High School, and W. R. Robbins High School, is an historic building in the Hyde Park neighborhood of

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. It has been, in sequential order, an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, a

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

, an

alternative high school Alternative High School (AHS) is a public senior high (secondary) school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; which teaches grades 10 through 12. AHS is currently located at the Clinton Ford Centre, which was home to the former Clinton Ford Elementary Sc ...

, and an administrative building for Austin ISD. In 2018, the Baker Center was bought by Tim and Karrie League, founders of

Alamo Drafthouse The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the film, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiq ...

, and now serves as their corporate headquarters. It has been used as a filming location for the TV shows ''Friday Night Lights'' and ''Walker'', and the movie ''

Lousy Carter ''Lousy Carter'' is a 2023 American comedy film written, directed, and produced by Bob Byington. It stars David Krumholtz, Olivia Thirlby, Martin Starr, Stephen Root, Jocelyn DeBoer, and Trieste Kelly Dunn. Premise Lousy Carter was once an accl ...

''. As of October 27, 2023, the Baker Center is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

for its significance in educational and architectural history.https://atlas.thc.texas.gov/NR/pdfs/100009490/100009490.pdf

History

Baker School

When it was built, the Baker School replaced the original Hyde Park School, which was established by Monroe Shipe, after Hyde Park School was unable to accommodate the neighborhood's growing population. It was identical to the Fulmore Middle School in South Austin, which would later become Lively Middle School. The Baker School was designed by the architectural firm Endress & Walsh and their associate Roy L. Thomas. The school was dedicated on November 28, 1911, as a segregated elementary school for white children living in Hyde Park. It is named for DeWitt Clinton Baker, who was the treasurer of the Austin Library Association in 1875. Additions to Baker School were built in 1924, by city planner and architect Franz Hugo Kuehne, and in 1939 by the firm Kriesle and Brooks.

Baker Junior High School

In the late 1930s, federal aid was lent to the school, which was used to create a large rear addition. As a result of the expansion, the school now served elementary and middle school-aged pupils. The district then renamed the school to reflect this. Baker Junior High School was renovated in 1958 and 1961 in an effort to modernize the building, as well as to accommodate the growing population of Hyde Park. The school's "Band Building" was established during the renovations.

W. R. Robbins High School

The Baker Junior High School was converted into an Alternative High School in 1980. W. R. Robbins closed in 1995.

Austin ISD building

After the closing of W. R. Robbins, the school became the administrative headquarters for Austin ISD. During this period, the building was used as a filming location for the TV shows, "''Friday Night Lights''" and "''Walker, Texas Red''", as a school in both cases. In 2016, in the wake of budget cuts, the district put the Baker School on the real estate market. They had previously suggested selling the school in 2011. Austin ISD asked that any buyers use the building for educational purposes. In 2017, the school's gymnasium was converted into an art venue named the "Rosette". It has been used primarily as a performance space for Austin Classical Guitar.

Alamo Drafthouse Headquarters

Movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse bought the Baker Center in 2017 for $10.6 million. Alamo Drafthouse said they would use it as their

corporate headquarters Corporate headquarters is the part of a corporate structure that deals with tasks such as strategic planning, corporate communications, taxes, law, books of record, marketing, finance, human resources, and information technology. Corporate headqu ...

, but that it would also create

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...

for public school teachers on the property. They promised it would not be "just a development project". Concerns were raised over Alamo Drafthouse winning the auction, as other bidders had spent millions more on their bids. ColinaWest Real Estate owner David Kahn sued Austin ISD, alleging that they had violated proper vetting processes by not going with one of the higher bids made. Kahn would later withdraw his lawsuit. Alamo Drafthouse has yet to build the affordable housing for teachers. In one of the building's former classrooms are

wax figures A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief. The properties of beeswax make it an excel ...

Amish The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church fellowships with Swiss people, Swiss and Alsace, Alsatian origins. As they ...

men and women seated at desks. These figures originate from a museum in Pennsylvania, which Alamo Drafthouse co-owner Tim League had purchased. Following the purchase, League was unsure of where to store these figures, and decided to keep them in the Baker Center. In 2020, Alamo Drafthouse sought NRHP status for the Baker Center. It was added to the register in October 2023, which allotted the company a

tax credit A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "dis ...

. In 2021, the film ''

'' conducted most of its filming at the Baker Center. The film was shown inside The Rosette on March 31, 2024.“Nine Pages a Day of Heavy Dialogue”: Bob Byington and David Krumholtz on Lousy Carter
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References

{{Reflist National Register of Historic Places in Austin, Texas Former school buildings in the United States Corporate headquarters in the United States