Today, the Main Building on the University of Texas campus – also known simply as the Tower – celebrates its 75th anniversary.
KUT News recently toured the tower with Jim Nicar, acting director of the UT Heritage Society, who got into the history behind the iconic building:
The university hired Philadelphia-based architect Paul Cret in 1930 to develop a master plan for UT. “He came in and said, ‘You know, you really need to have the library on the top of the hill,’ and convinced both the faculty building committee and the regents to do that,” Nicar says. The library needed to be big enough to store all the university’s books, so they decided to build up – 27 stories up. It was a chance to build something more than just a library. This would be a symbol, and Paul Cret knew it.
A list of events celebrating the building is available online. You can also brush up on the tower’s numerous lighting configurations, and even get a live shot of the tower on the University Co-op’s live tower cam.
