Samuel Edward Gideon was born at
Louisville, Kentucky. He studied architecture at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and Harvard University and graduated from
the School of Fine Arts at Fontainebleau, France. He taught at the
Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas from 1900 to 1904 and
returned to MIT to teach from 1905 to 1913. In 1913 Gideon became
professor of architectural design and history at the University of
Texas. He was to become an authority on early Texas architecture. He
trained and influenced numerous art and architecture students
while at the University of Texas. He was president of the Texas
chapter of the National Committee on the Preservation of Historic
Buildings, of the Texas alumni of Fontainebleau, and of the Guild of
Austin Artists; he was a member of the American Institute of
Architects. He was a member of and exhibitor in the Texas
Fine Arts Association, Southern States Art League, Laguna
Beach Art Association and the Austin Artists’ Guild. Although he did
occasional oil paintings he excelled as a watercolorist which was
his preferred medium.