Main Building of The University of Texas at Austin

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The Main Building of The University of Texas at Austin is a structure at the center of the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas that houses the university's administrative offices. The Main Building's 305-foot (95-meter) tower, locally referred to simply as "The Tower", has 28 floors and is one of the most recognizable symbols of the University, as well as the City of Austin.

History

The old Victorian-Gothic Main Building served as the central point of the campus' forty-acre site, and was used for nearly all purposes. However, by the 1930s, discussions rose about the need for new library space, and the Main Building was razed in 1934 over the objections of many students and faculty. All that remains of the Old Main Building are its old carillon bells (called the "Burleson Bells), which are now exhibited as part of a permanent display outside the university's Bass Concert Hall. The modern-day tower and Main Building were constructed in its place.

Originally, the University planned to use the tower as a library space, using a dumbwaiter system to carry books from the upper floors to the students requesting them on the ground floor. Library employees were stationed every other floor and students on the ground floor filled out paper book request slips, which were sent upstairs by pneumatic tube, similar to bank tellers. The books were sent down to the students using an 18-story dumbwaiter. This proved ineffective, and the dumbwaiter was removed to place network and other computer cabling in the same shaft. The building now mainly contains administrative offices, though it does still house a three-floor life sciences library and the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library of early and significant editions of English Romanticist works. A small three-story elevator is now used to move books between floors. Another small elevator in the center shaft provides access to the lower 18 floors in the tower building. Several professors' offices and department offices are located near the top of the tower. In the floors above the stacks and below the offices, several floors contain life sciences labs and studies, as well as data serving the state and national governments. U.S. Census data analysis is compiled and analyzed on some of these floors. Lastly, two secure elevators provides access to the entire 27 floors of the tower, including the professors' and departmental offices, the observation deck, and access to the carillon room.

The 305-foot (95 m) tower was designed by Paul Philippe Cret. Completed in 1937, the Main Building is located in the middle of campus. At the top of the tower is a carillon of 56 bells, the largest in Texas. Songs are played on weekdays by resident carilloneur Tom Anderson, in addition to the usual pealing of Westminster Quarters every quarter hour between 6 AM and 9 PM.

During World War II, an air raid siren built by the chief communications engineer for the University, Jack Maguire, was placed on top of the tower to notify Austin residents of incoming air attack. As there was never an air attack on the city, this siren was only tested and never truly used. In addition, the decommissioned siren was superseded by 4 electronic warning sirens that were installed in early 2007.

Lighting

The tower usually appears illuminated in white light in the evening, but is lit in various color schemes for special occasions, including athletic victories and academic accomplishments, such as commencement, preferably white and orange.

Carl J. Eckhardt Jr., head of the Physical Plant in 1931, supervised the construction of the Main Building Tower. Eckhardt devised a lighting system to take advantage of its commanding architecture to announce university achievements. Beginning in 1937, orange lights were used to symbolize important events at the University; by 1947, standard guidelines for using the orange lights were created, and these have been updated since. Today there are many different options for lighting, including a darkened tower to signify solemn occasions. An orange tower with office windows lit to form the numeral "1" is used for national championships in NCAA sporting events.

Events

On August 1 1966, Charles Whitman, an architectural engineering major at the University, barricaded himself in the observation deck of the tower of the Main Building with a scoped Remington 700 deer rifle and various other weapons. In a 96-minute stand-off, Whitman killed 14 Austin residents and wounded many more. Following the incident, the observation deck was closed until 1968 and closed again in 1974 following a series of suicide jumps. On 11 November 1998, the Board of Regents of the UT system approved the recommendation of Student Association leaders and of then-president Larry Faulkner to reopen the tower observation deck to visitors. After the installation of security and safety measures, the observation deck reopened to the public in 1999.

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