N E W S St. Edward’s Strategy for Expansion Sets High Standards for Architects’ Selection More than a cent ur y after St. Edward’s University traded its make-do wood structures for the Romanesque Revival of Nicholas Clayton, the private liberal arts college once again has set its sights on architectural excellence. University leaders, guided by an ambitious strategic plan that calls for doubling the university’s enrollment by 2010, have so far added four significant buildings to the campus in just four years. Each of the buildings are the work of architects specifically selected for their design skill. Another four buildings, also designed by respected architectural firms, are either under construction or are planned in the near future. The capital improvements are part of a master plan approved in 2000 under the direction of Dr. George E. Martin, who was hired as the university’s president in 1999 and soon afterward developed a seven-point strategic plan. Martin said recently that his two objectives are to grow enrollment to reach the necessary critical mass for a vibrant college experience and to establish a premier academic program. According to school officials, St. Edward’s has reached its initial financial goal of $65 million one year ahead of schedule. However, the officials said, further fundraising will be necessary to construct all the buildings identified in the master plan. St. Edward’s University was founded in 1885 as a private Catholic Church school by Father
Photo by timothy hursley
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Nicholas Clayton’s Main Building, at far left, is still prominent as the oldest and most revered structure on campus. Barely visible on the right is Clayton’s Holy Cross Hall. Shown below, Sasaki and Associate’s 2005 campus master plan outlines building and landscape projects for the next 10 years.
congress avenue courtesy sasaki associates
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his signature Romanesque style. Set atop the campus’ highest elevation, the three-story Main Building, replete with a looming tower, was visible for almost a two-mile radius. Easily clearing the surrounding tree level, it has reigned for 100-plus years as an Austin landmark. The university subsequently added to the campus as the enrollment grew, but none of the more modern structures ever came close to matching the presence and charm of Clayton’s stately and enduring adjacent pair. Rightfully proud of its Main Building, the university uses an oblique elevation of its tower in its official logo. The dramatic disparity in the quality of campus buildings during the twentieth century might have continued into the twenty-first had St. Edward’s not hired Martin as its twentythird president. In his first year of office, the Brooklyn native established the aforemennew construction tioned strategic plan N existing construction that set the goal of doubling enrollment. To realize that ambitious goal, school officials knew they had the immediate need for a campus master plan. T he y chose H2L 2, a Ph i l adelph i a-ba sed firm that evolved from one founded in 1907 by Paul Philippe Cret, the French émigré architect who devised the master plan for the University
Edward Sorin on 498 acres of donated farmland. Located three miles south of the State Capitol, the tract of pastures at that time was situated on the outskirts of Austin. Today, the old farm has become an educational enclave conveniently set near the heart of the city. Most of the campus’ first buildings were piecemeal and built more for utility than permanence. In the 1890s, when St. Edward’s was ready to invest in more longterm academic structures, the Catholic Church hired Clayton, the eminent architect best known for his work in Galveston and the church’s “goto” designer at the time. Clayton’s two commissions, each located in the middle of campus, were the majestic Main Building (1888) and the smaller and less opulent Holy Cross Hall (1905), both designed in
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