Designed by Henry Trost, Old Main was built in 1917 along with Vowell Hall, Graham Hall, and Holliday Hall. The design is Bhutanese-inspired. The wife of the first Dean of the Texas School of Mines and Metallurgy, Kathleen L. Worrell, looked in a National Geographic Magazine article titled “Castles in the Air” and was inspired by a Bhutanese fortress, or dzong. The slightly slanted battered walls, inset windows, and roof overhangs dictated the design of subsequent buildings at the University. Local architectural firm Gibson and Robertson were first contracted as lead architecture but were replaced by Trost & Trost by May 1917.
For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/TrostSociety/photos/pcb.3088734704577908/3088717384579640 or http://www.henrytrost.org/buildings/university-of-texas-at-el-paso-old-main/.
Text edited by Victor Hurtado.
Additional Details
Type: Education
Construction Date: Jan 1, 1917
Address: Old Main, El Paso, TX 79902, USA
Condition: Extant