---
name: "Old Jail Art Center"
subtitle: "A 19th-century Texas jail rehung with Picasso and Renoir"
date: 2026-07-20
shortlist: true
link: "https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/old-jail-art-center"
linkText: "atlasobscura.com"
source: "Atlas Obscura"
topics: [design-and-art, history-and-archives]
tags: [texas, museum, jail, art]
description: "An 1878 frontier jail in Albany, Texas, saved from demolition for $25 and now home to a museum-grade collection including Picasso, Renoir, and Modigliani."
promotedTo: old-jail-art-center
---

An 1878 limestone jail in Albany, Texas, saved from demolition in 1940 when playwright Robert Nail Jr. bought it for $25. Its former cells now hang Picasso, Renoir, Klee, Modigliani, and Calder, while the walls still carry the carved initials Scottish stonemasons etched into each block to prove they'd been paid, plus decades of prisoner graffiti that earned the building its nickname: the alphabet jail.
