Sunday, March 2, 2025

Private library and gardens of a multimillionaire Lanier Theological Library

Lanier Theological Library (LTL) is a 17,000 sq. ft private library located in northwest Houston, Texas. It is part of the 35-acre estate of Mark Lanier.

He designed the library by combining his favorite architectural features from the libraries in and around the University of Oxford.[He is a high-profile product litigation lawyer resulting in billions of dollars in damages, successful cases including Johnson & Johnson baby powder and Merck & Co.'s Vioxx drug]

It opened to the public in October 2010.

The estate also has a stone chapel and an English village with a train, cobblestone street and dining hall.

The huge library estate can be visited only with prior appointment and there are very limited number allowed in every day . On a cold wintery morning We drove down to that address and told the security at the gate that we would like to visit the library . There is a phone number written on a board outside where you can call for permission to enter . We rang up that number, it connected us to somebody inside , we said We're at the gate .

The Lady asked the security to let us in; we showed the guard our id's it is ok to show an electronic id also . The security guard buzzed the gate open

Parts of the gardens are open for the visitors, it has the vibe of an English village with a small stream running by and there are numerous statues of kids . There are swans running around in the garden .

The library has mostly theological religious books but there are quite a few general interest books as well . Ambiance is serene and classy .

This is one of the fireplaces so cosy and comfortable

The LTL displays Christian artifacts such as handwritten letters by author C. S. Lewis, artwork from his Chronicles of Narnia book series, two copies of the original 1611 King James Version Bible and a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It includes more than 120,000 volumes and periodicals

STONE CHAPEL

It is a reconstruction of a 500 A.D. Byzantine chapel

The chapel's ceilings feature scenes from the Bible painted by Texas artist Richard McCluskey. He also painted the ceiling of the library's main hall.