The university's original three buildings: Austin , Main, and Peabody. Moller pipe organ. The replica of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The fire of February 12, was hot enough to fuse glass onto brick you can see such a sample in the university archives.
The cornerstone of the Main Building - located at the northeastern corner - was laid in September This cornerstone - located at the northwestern corner - commemorates the men who designed and helped construct the Main Building.
The Main Building , or Old Main , was a two-story, Victorian Gothic building that contained classrooms, administrative offices, and, on the second floor, the Memorial Auditorium. Facing downtown Huntsville, it was the first permanent building constructed by the state for teacher training, described in a memorial brochure as "the most beautiful building owned by the State of Texas.
Old Main was born of necessity. Eleven years after the opening of Sam Houston Normal Institute classroom space was at a premium and had thus forced the nearby Austin College Building - which housed everything the school had - to add a third floor. The building's planned foundation was at one point moved ten inches when a bed of quicksand was discovered in the northeast corner of the site [1]. Designed by architect Alfred Mueller, the glass doors and windows were "to be double strength American glass.
All other glass was to be genuine cathedral glass - no imitation. In addition to Mueller, Edward Northcraft was appointed "supervising architect" and J. Wilson were selected as contractors. The brick and tin structure was dedicated September 22, at the opening of the twelfth session of SHNI.
