Little Campus | |
 The original main building of the Little Campus, now known as the Arno Nowotny Building | |
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| Location | Bounded by 18th, Oldham, 19th, and Red River Sts.,Austin, Texas |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 30°16′42″N97°43′53″W / 30.27833°N 97.73139°W /30.27833; -97.73139 (Little Campus) |
| Area | 7 acres (2.8 ha) |
| Built | 1856 (1856) |
| Architect | Abner H. Cook |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| NRHP reference No. | 74002091[1] |
| Added to NRHP | August 13, 1974 |
TheLittle Campus (officially theHeman Sweatt Campus) is a historic district and part of theUniversity of Texas at Austin campus inAustin, Texas. Originally built in 1856 as theTexas Asylum for the Blind, the complex was used for a variety of purposes through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was acquired by the University of Texas afterWorld War I and listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1974.
On August 16, 1856, theTexas Legislature enacted a measure providing for the establishment of a Texas Asylum for the Blind (now known as theTexas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired) in Austin. The state leased theNeill–Cochran House as a temporary site for the asylum while a permanent building was constructed.[2] The asylum facility was built between 1856 and 1857 at a cost of $12,390 (equivalent to $418,000 in 2024).[3] In 1857 the asylum moved into its building, where it operated until the end of theAmerican Civil War in 1865, at which point the campus was commandeered by GeneralGeorge Armstrong Custer, who used the facility as his family's residence while contributing to the occupation andReconstruction of Texas.[2]
In 1866 the asylum was restored, and it occupied the campus from then until 1915,[2] while the program was renamed the Texas Blind Institute in 1905 and then the Texas School for the Blind in 1915.[3] During this period the complex was expanded with the construction of several additional buildings.[2] DuringWorld War I the School for the Blind was displaced by amilitary pilot training program, and abarracks was added to the complex.[4] After the war the School for the Blind relocated to a new and larger campus,[3] and the original asylum facility spent several years housing the Texas State Hospital for the Senile.[4]
In the mid 1920s the growingUniversity of Texas at Austin purchased the campus from the State Hospital system, after which it came to be known as the "Little Campus" (by contrast with the main campus to the northwest). The university built a women'sdormitory called the Little Residence Hall and renovated the existing buildings into a men's dormitory.[4] The facility was again commandeered for military training duringWorld War II, reverting to the university's use after the war's end.[2]
On August 13, 1974, the Little Campus was declared a United States historic district and added to theNational Register of Historic Places.[5] In 1987 the area was officially renamed the "Heman Sweatt Campus," in honor of former UT law student and African-American civil rights plaintiffHeman Marion Sweatt.[6]
Today, many of the Little Campus's historic structures have been demolished to make room for redevelopment, but two buildings remain:[7] the asylum's original building, now known as the Arno Nowotny Building, holds the office of the director of the university'sDolph Briscoe Center for American History, and John W. Hargis Hall houses the university's Undergraduate Admissions Center.[8]
The original 1857 asylum building (now the Nowotny Building) is a two-storyItalianate structure of roughlimestone with redbrick detailing. The main facade features five sets of paired windows with limestonesills framed in brick and topped with bricksegmental arches. The corners are reinforced with brickquoins, and a wide first-storyportico extends to both sides of the main entry. A brickcornice marks the roofline, above which the gray metal roof is punctuated by an octagonal Italianatedome. The building was designed and built byAbner H. Cook, an Austin architect who had recently designed theTexas Governor's Mansion.[2]
The other surviving building, Hargis Hall, is a two-storyVictorian Italianate structure of tan bricks with limestone detailing formed by the joining of two older buildings, one built in 1889 and one in 1900. The many windows have limestone sills and are topped by limestone segmental arches with distinctkeystones. A dark red cornice supports the gray metal roof, from which there rises a squareclock tower on one side and a shorter square tower on the other.[2]
Located in:Austin, Texas | |||||||||
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