Main Building (St. Edward's University)
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St. Edward's University Main Building and Holy Cross Dormitory
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Main entrance, viewed from the north
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| Location | 3001 S. Congress St. Austin, Texas |
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| Coordinates | 30°13′46″N 97°45′17″W / 30.22944°N 97.75472°WCoordinates: 30°13′46″N 97°45′17″W / 30.22944°N 97.75472°W |
| Area | 5 acres (2.0 ha) |
| Built | 1903 |
| Architect | Nicholas J. Clayton |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 73001980 |
| RTHL # | 14821 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | March 7, 1973 |
| Designated RTHL | 1972 |
Main Building is the central administration building of St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and formerly also of St. Edward's High School (now defunct). First completed in 1888 and rebuilt after a fire in 1903, Main Building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973, along with adjacent Holy Cross Hall.
St. Edward's University was founded in 1877 by Edward Sorin, a Roman Catholic priest who also founded the University of Notre Dame. The school was established on farmland atop a promontory to the south of Austin. As the institution grew in the early 1880s, its leaders decided to commission an administration building on that hilltop, hiring architect Nicholas J. Clayton of Galveston, Texas to design the structure.
Clayton produced a large Gothic Revival design, four stories high with tall Gothic windows; this first Main Building was begun in 1887 and completed in 1888. On April 9, 1903, the first building was destroyed in a fire; the university then commissioned Clayton, the original architect, to design a replacement for the structure, on essentially the same plan, upgraded to include modern fireproofing features. Main Building was rebuilt over the spring and summer, ready for use by the beginning of the fall 1903 semester. At the same time, another new building, Holy Cross Hall, was built alongside the new Main Building, sharing its overall design on a smaller scale.
Since its first opening, Main Building has housed the administrative offices of St. Edward's College (as the school was known in its first decades) and St. Edward's University (since the university was charted in 1925); it also formerly held the administration of St. Edward's High School from 1921, when the secondary school was separated from the college, until 1967, when the high school was closed. During World War II the facility housed a military academy and flight school. Holy Cross Hall has been used as a dormitory and has held classrooms, offices and meeting space.
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