The Brettell Reading Room

The reading room is the first space to be completed in Phase 1 of the University’s new cultural district.

The Brettell Reading Room honors the late Dr. Richard Brettell, a longtime professor of art and aesthetic studies at UT Dallas whose vision for enhancing the arts on campus first inspired the O’Donnell Athenaeum project.

This is a beautiful, serene space for students, faculty and community to use for quiet study and research. It houses Dr. Rick Brettel's personal collection of books mainly about art, art history and architecture.  These books are available for use here in the Brettell Reading Room. There are five two person tables, a large table, two couches and several comfortable chairs available for use. We invite you to come use the room as an alternative space for your own personal study, research and contemplation.

“Rick had a vision for the future,” said Amy Lewis Hofland, senior director of the Trammell and Margaret Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas, whose galleries anchor the O’Donnell Athenaeum’s first building. “Today we stand in Rick’s future. It was a dream, a drawing on a piece of paper, an architectural plan, a summer research trip. We are here today at the gateway of a 12-acre cultural district.”