Hilltop City Hall showcases granite

By Glynis Crawford Smith
The Highlander
The most impressive landmark along all 67 miles of Ranch to Marlet Road 1431 is right here in Burnet County on the promontory above the City of Granite Shoals . 

Granite Shoals City Hall , 2221 North Phillips Ranch Road, may appear resplendent for a town of 5, 000, but it began life as a showplace. 

Faced entirely in stone that gives the city its name, the building is accented inside and out by modern arched sky lighting that spans a central hall and forms southerly glass walls. 

"That vaulted spine was all about air circulation and moving around in the building," said architect Brad Nelsen of Nelsen Partners Architects in Austin. 

Some 10, 500 square feet of usable space open on the second floor to a terrace with a southwestern panorama of Lookout and Packsaddle Mountains and Lake LBJ to Wirtz Dam. 

" City hall is open to visitors and we are happy to share the beauty of Granite Shoals from above," said City Manager Ken Nickel. The building was constructed in 1985 as offices for Capitol Marble and Granite Company. 

The original company owner, Tom Wilson (now deceased,) made a mark in the quarry industry with the innovative use of gang saws and automatic polishing-processes housed in work sheds still seen from the highway. Instead of massive blocks of Sunset Red granite used for the Texas Capitol in Austin, Granite Shoals City Hall incorporates sawn sheets of nearby Texas Pink granite. 

"Jack Seiders, Mr. Wilson's son-in-law, was president of the company by the time he asked us for a design to show work their work," Nelsen said. "Aggregate from the site is mixed into the concrete. From curved stone to pavers and interior polished floors, it is a showcase," he said. 

"We began the factory there because of a contract for a big complex at Las Colinas in Dallas," said Seiders, now owner of the national Ar-chitectural Granite & Marble, Inc. "We wanted to attract other architects and developers but I think City Hall is a great ultimate use for the building. We still love the view of it from Lake LBJ." 

"Texas Granite Company acquired Capitol Marble in 1988," explained Frank Reilly, mayor in 2008 when the city purchased the building and surrounding 131.6 acres for $3.175 million. 

"The city purchased the property from the 360 Global Wine Company," he said. "They had paid $12 million." 

Economic downturn placed city offices in a building that opponents of the purchase and renovation still call the "Taj Mahal." A 360 Global Wine development plan fizzled and, despite offerings cut to half and then to a third, the building languished. A local church met there, occasionally providing shelter for the down-and-out and providing some maintenance in exchange for a claim to future sanctuary land. Through Texas Parks and Wildlife Department grants, surrounding land is being developed into Quarry Park, with the heavily-used Leo Manzano Hike, Bike and Run Trail and Roddick Tennis Center. Former mine sheds are being rehabilitated into covered  sport and tennis courts that are the first phase of an 18-court plan for the tennis center.