The carriage house on White Avenue, behind the James D. Hoskins Library, was designed by Joseph Baumann and built in 1880–81 as an appurtenance of the William Wallace Woodruff house a few years after the house itself was built. The Woodruff house, a Victorian mansion, was purchased by UT in 1926 and was used first as a women’s dormitory. It was razed to allow construction of Hoskins Library.
A 1945 Rockefeller General Education Board grant contained $8,400 for renovations to provide better teaching space for crafts. The old, boarded-up carriage house was chosen by Dean Jessie Harris and University Architect Malcolm Rice to be renovated as a Craft House. An additional $4,100 from the grant was to be spent for tools, equipment, and educational aids.
A complete renovation, which preserved the exterior of the remainder of the gracious homes that once lined Cumberland Avenue, was made. On the first floor in the stable area was a weaving room (complete with both hand and foot looms), a lounge, and an exhibit area. Upstairs, the groom’s living quarters were transformed into professors’ offices and an all-purpose studio for crafts other than weaving. The renovation and equipping was completed in 1950.
In 1978 the crafts component of the Department of Crafts, Interior Design, and Housing moved to the Art Department and to the Art and Architecture Building. In 1983 EXXON Chemical Company provided equipment and funds to the College of Home Economics to support ultrafine fiber and nonwoven fabric research, and Dupont provided an additional $100,000. The Crafts House was renovated as a Textile Processing Laboratory, in which the “magic fibers of the future” would be developed. The laboratory officially opened in 1984.
In August 2002 fire broke out, and smoke and water damage to equipment was substantial. The upper floor of the building sustained significant fire damage. The Textile Processing Laboratory was relocated to the TANDEC building in 2004, and the Carriage House was repaired and assigned to the UT Libraries.