09/09/2024
SLATED FOR DEMOLITION!!
FROM THE PAGES OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: THE 1921 VOWELL HALL, TROST & TROST, ARCHITECTS
One of the enchanting buildings sitting on UTEP's chopping block as part of the ten-year revitilization project, is the 1921 Vowell Hall. The Vowell is one of the original 5 structures designed by Trost & Trost, based on plans drawn by the architectural firm of Gibson & Robertson, that flavored the unique appearance of the Texas State School of Mines campus, and then remained the default look of the property that we have all grown to associate with UTEP's greatness.
This unique Bhutanese architecture's sudden appearance in the southwestern burg of El Paso was both surprising and refreshing. In 1914, the wife of the first Dean of the college (Stephen Howard Worrell), then known as the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy, Kathleen L. Worrell, was looking in the April National Geographic Magazine and saw a picture in an article called "Castles In The Air". This photo was taken by John Claude White in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and showed an amazing looking Bhutanese dzong. When the Architectural firm of Gibson and Robertson was hired to design buildings for the new campus, she insisted that they be Bhutanese. Quoting a period newspaper article, a faculty colleague of Dean Worrell stated: "When his missus speaks up, the Doc listens!"
In 1916, the college was facing a challenging future and uncertain times. The start of the War (the one that was going to end all wars, btw) was looming, with the associated sudden growth of Fort Bliss; there was a water shortage at the site of their old campus on the east side of the Franklins; and, finally, a fire that destroyed their main building in 1916, necessitating a move. Dean Worrell, who was out of town at the time of the fire, rushed back to El Paso. A new site for the college was found on the other side of the Franklins, on a mesa overlooking downtown El Paso.
After securing $100,000 in funding from the Texas legislature in Austin, Worrell purchased 22.9 acres, bounded by Kerbey and North Kansas, with the old Fort Bliss to the west. In late 1916, he contracted with the El Paso architectural firm of Gibson and Robertson to design the buildings. On the front page of the 1/06/1917 El Paso Herald, the Architects displayed their sketches: and they were beautiful, exactly what Mrs. Worrell had envisioned.
By May of 1917, the firm of Trost & Trost came aboard as lead architects, replacing Gibson & Robertson, purchasing their previously drawn plans. Henry C. Trost drew plans for the 4 (eventually 5) buildings, based closely on the previous drawings completed by Gibson & Robertson. On May 5, Trost & Trost opened bids for the contractor: and on June 1, V.E. Ware, who happened to be a large contributor to the college, was awarded the contract with a bid of $115,000.
The five buildings that were erected that year and in 1921 still stand today:
1. -- Old Main (1917)
2. -- The Chemistry Building, now known as Graham Hall (1917)
3. -- Quinn Hall, originally the Geology Building (1917)
4. -- The Power House, which still stands as the northern end of Seamon Hall (1917)
5. -- Vowell Hall (1921)
The first four buildings were completed by the end of the year, three of them in Bhutanese, with features defining the unique style: low hipped roofs, the interesting ornamental frieze of brick and tile below the roof line and battered outside walls increasing in thickness towards the bottom. The style was repeated in the fifth building, Vowell Hall, under interesting circumstances which are described by the UTEP Encyclopedia (see https://ucweb.utep.edu/_uploaded/encyclopedia-temp/pages/Vowell_Hall.html):
"In October 1920, the U.T. Board of Regents honored fellow regent Charles Kelly by naming the first dormitory building (now Graham Hall) after Kelly who, at the time, was still a member of the Board of Regents. The Regents then appointed Kelly to a committee to investigate enlarging the dormitory to accommodate increased enrollment at the school. The firm of Trost & Trost, who designed the dormitory, argued that an addition would be "impractical and spoil the appearance of the building." As an alternative, The Trosts suggested that the school instead take the original designs for the building and use them to construct a second dormitory (now Vowell Hall). In January 1921, the Board of Regents approved the plan and awarded the contract to V. E. Ware. Construction on the dormitory was completed in April 1921, but remained unoccupied as no funding had been set aside for furnishings. By fall of 1921, the new dormitory was ready for occupancy. Sometime in the 1922, the new dormitory was renamed Kelly Hall, although no documentation exists authorizing the transfer of the name."
Today, Vowell Hall, one of the historic originals, is possibly set for demolition as part of the ten-year revitalization plan. Knowing that UTEP, as it travels into the future, requires larger, more modern, ADA-compliant structures is perhaps a given. However, historic preservation and modernization can be joined together. We believe Vowell can be modernized and utilized!
***************
Text and research provided to the Trost Society by Mark Stone. This historical narrative is derived from newspaper articles and City Directory entries accessed through the Library of Congress' Chronicling America project at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ and the University of North Texas (Denton) Digital Archives at https://texashistory.unt.edu/
Also citing:
-- The UTEP Handbook of Operating Procedures, History Section, at https://www.utep.edu/hoop/section-1/history-and-mission.html
-- El Paso Herald, Saturday, January 6, 1917 Page: 24 = Gibson and Robertson to design buildings in Bhutanese style
-- El Paso Herald, Saturday, January 6, 1917 Page 1 = The Gibson and Robertson initial sketches for the buildings
-- El Paso Herald, Saturday, May 5, 1917 = Trost & Trost become lead architects for the project
-- El Paso Herald, Friday, June 1, 1917 Page: 1: V.E. Ware awarded contract for the construction of the buildings
