





































A Veterinary Tale of Two Buildings: Transformation to Meet the Needs of the 

Modern Student 

 
Rachel K. Turner Eliel Hinojosa, Jr. 

Texas A&M University 

 
Abstract 

Buildings, like the people who occupy 

them, are storied. The buildings on the campus of 

Texas A&M University tell curricular stories as 

their initial construction responded to the 

educational needs of a growing university. The 

Civil Engineering Building and Francis Hall, 

originally built as the Veterinary Hospital and the 

School of Veterinary Medicine, are examples of 

this response. Since their construction varying 

degrees of edificial transformation represent the 

changing narrative of each building. 

 

Introduction 

The campus of Texas A&M University 

bustles with life as students, faculty, staff, and 

guests move about attending to their schedules. 

Construction crews actively work to improve 

campus buildings. At present, there are several 

major building projects underway and spread 

across the campus. Tucked unassumingly into the 

one of the older sections of the campus, sit several 

buildings. These buildings, mostly erected along 

Ross Street, have served tens of thousands of 

Aggies – some for over a century. Among these 

buildings one finds the Civil Engineering Building 

and, just a short distance away, Francis Hall, two 

buildings whose histories provide glimpses into 

the changing needs of the university. The stories of 

these buildings began in 1908 when the need for 

formal facilities for a School of Veterinary 

Medicine sparked the construction of several 

buildings, the Civil Engineering Building and 

Francis Hall taking center stage. Since that time the 

varying needs of a growing university have led to  

 

Curriculum History 2018: 134-145 

physical changes and, consequently, new chapters 

in the narrative of each building. Vested in 

tradition and with narratives that speak to their 

service and success, Civil Engineering Building 

and Francis Hall remain testaments of tradition in 

a university whose mission continues into the 21st 

century. This is their story…or at least a tale. 

 

A College is Born 

Texas A&M University owes its creation to 

the Morrill Land-Grant Act. The Morrill Act was 

first approved in 1862 by the 37th United States 

Congress. The act approved the donation of public 

lands for states to use for educational purposes.  

 

 
Figure 1. Texas A&M in 1876. Cushing Memorial 

Library & Archives, Texas A&M University. 

 

Education was to specifically include military, 

agriculture, and mechanics training. In 1866 the 

state of Texas created a college under the 

conditions established by the Morrill Act. The state 

legislature formed the Agriculture and Mechanical 

College of Texas. To acquire land and a location 

for the college, the citizens of Brazos County 



 
 

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donated 2,416 acres to be used to house the 

college. On October 4th, 1876 classes officially 

began (Dethloff 1975).  

Only white males were admitted to the 

college and all students were required to 

participate in military training as required by the 

Morrill Act. Shortly after the establishment of 

A&M College, in 1888, Dr. Mark Francis arrived. 

 

 
 

Figure 2. Dr. Mark Francis, Cushing Memorial 

Library & Archives, Texas A&M University. 

 

Dr. Francis was the first trained veterinarian to 

become part of the faculty. He originally lectured 

to agricultural students in Old Main with no labs 

and little equipment. Francis recalled: 

 

There were no laboratories or equipment 

for this work. We had a room about 

14x16 feet that was on the ground floor 

on the Main Building that served as 

office, classroom and laboratory. At the 

end of the school year the adjoining room 

became vacant and was assigned to us as 

a classroom. In this unsuitable place we 

toiled for 15 years. There was no hospital. 

Along about December 1888, a frame 

barn was built to serve this purpose. It 

was about 20x36 feet…the following 

year a frame building was provided that 

served as a dissecting room. 

 

It wasn’t until 1908 that proper facilities for 

veterinary medicine were built (Dethloff 1975). 

 

1908 Veterinary Hospital 

On September 23, 1908, the first building 

to be used as a Veterinary Hospital was erected on 

campus near the corner of Ross Street and Bizzell 

Street (The Battalion 1950). The building was 

erected as the universities veterinary program was 

growing. The main location for classes, Old Main, 

did not have adequate space for labs and housing 

of animals. This Veterinary Hospital was two 

stories and made entirely from wood and plaster 

(The Battalion 1908).  

 
Figure 3. 1908 Veterinary Hospital, Cushing 

Memorial Library & Archives, Texas A&M 

University. 

 

The building was 135 feet long and 35 feet 

wide (The Battalion 1908). The hospital was raised 

on a northwest corner of an open field and 

included, on the lower level, box stalls and rooms 

with dividers (The Battalion 1908). This allowed 

horses and cattle with contagious diseases to be 

quarantined (The Battalion 1950). While a 

majority of the building was to be used for large 

animals, the hospital also included stalls to 

accommodate smaller animals and two rooms for 

dogs (Langford 1963). Other rooms on the lower 



 
 

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level included a large clinic room, a feed room, and 

a medicine room (Langford 1963). The second 

story included a small space for veterinary students 

to live as well as office space and laboratories 

(Langford 1963). Concrete floors throughout the 

hospital were used to ensure that the animals could 

be treated in the most sanitary manner (The 

Battalion 1908). Traps from each stall were 

attached to the sewer in order to exclude 

contagious diseases and allow for disinfection of 

each stall (Langford 1963). This made cleaning 

easier and drastically improved sanitation 

throughout the hospital. The creation of this 

veterinary hospital allowed the clinical work being 

done on campus to move out of the chemical and 

veterinary lab and take place in one central location 

(Langford 1963). This amounted to progress on 

campus. As specific and specialized facilities were 

built, the College showed marked improvement in 

their abilities to provide services and treatments to 

animals and provide students with practice. 

However, this sentiment was not universal. 

According to an architecture professor on campus 

Ernest Langford, a local professor by the name of 

Dr. Huber Schmidt referred to the Veterinary 

Hospital as having “excessive space” (Langford 

1963). 

 

Francis Hall  

While the college continued to utilize the 

1908 Veterinary Hospital, by 1916 the need for a 

more formal location for a School of Veterinary 

Medicine was evident. The college was looking to 

expand the work they were doing in Veterinary 

Medicine to include more classes and programs. 

An investment in livestock of $500 million dollars 

and the fact that there were less than 100 licensed 

veterinarians in the state, helped contribute to state 

and federal support for a veterinary school. Having 

taught in Old Main for years, Dr. Francis, among 

others, advocated for a home for the School of 

Veterinary Medicine. Additionally, research 

conducted at the College on Texas Fever and Hog 

Cholera serum necessitated a formal place of study 

for future veterinarians (The Battalion 1916). 

Originally proposed to the 33rd Texas 

Legislature in 1913, a new building for the School 

of Veterinary Medicine was not an immediate sell. 

Though it passed the legislative body it was vetoed 

by Governor O.B. Colquitt. The request was 

passed in 1915 by Governor James E. Ferguson 

and the Veterinary School became a reality. The 

school was established as an extension of the 

Department of Veterinary Science (Aggieland 

1956). The newly established school appointed Dr. 

Mark Francis as Dean and the building carried his 

name (Dethloff 1975). Francis Hall was built West 

of the Veterinary Hospital on the site of the 

original campus infirmary. At three stories, Francis 

Hall housed small classrooms, larger lecture 

rooms, an elevator system suitable for animals and 

a large, central lecture hall with tiered seating that 

allowed overhead viewing of operations and 

procedures. 

 

 
Figure 4. Francis Hall, Cushing Memorial Library 

& Archives, Texas A&M University. 

 

Steps Toward Formality 

It didn’t take long to see the need for 

expansions and improvements to both Francis Hall 

and the Veterinary Hospital. The college’s 

continual growth caused a need for additional 

space. Renovations were made to make existing 

facilities more suitable for educating future 



 
 

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veterinarians. This included additional space to 

accommodate classrooms, laboratories, clinics, 

and offices. These improvements began as early as 

1920. 

After only few years in operation, the main 

amphitheater style lecture hall, in Francis Hall, 

continued to remain unfinished and, therefore, 

underwent major renovation. A design flaw in the 

four-tier, semicircle prevented seats from being 

placed in the room. An additional 30 tons of 

concrete was added to make the aisles wider to 

accommodate seating. This additional concrete 

required engineering crews to place supporting 

columns underneath the floor (The Daily Bulletin 

1920). After renovations were completed the room 

was used for large lectures and observations of 

veterinary procedures. 

Figure 5. Dr. Francis addresses a class in Francis 

Hall around 1920, Cushing Memorial Library & 

Archives, Texas A&M University.  

 

1932 Veterinary Hospital  

An expanding Veterinary School 

eventually led to the need for a newer and larger 

hospital than the 1908 facility. Therefore, in 1932, 

a new Veterinary Hospital was built. The building 

was constructed in the same location as the older, 

wooden Veterinary Hospital that was built in 1908. 

The U-shaped building allowed for offices, wards, 

and laboratories (Langford 1963). It included a 

pharmacy and x-ray rooms (Texas A&M 

Catalogue 1932-1935). The design and 

construction of this new hospital displayed modern 

amenities which allowed for the study and teaching 

of animal diseases (Texas A&M Catalogue 1932-

1935). 

According to an article in a 2016 issue in 

Spirit Magazine, the Veterinary Hospital was 

known as the “crown jewel of the college of 

medicine” (Spirit Magazine 2016). The article also 

mentions the hospital was built as one of the most 

modern and well equipped veterinary facilities of 

the time in the United States (Spirit Magazine 

2016). The hospital was built along with three 

other smaller buildings which included a 

veterinary anatomy laboratory and two large 

animal stables (Langford 1963). The new hospital, 

along with the laboratory and stables, were built by 

Henger and Chambers Company from Houston, 

Texas. The total cost was $200,671.25 (Langford 

1963).  

The design of the 1932 Veterinary Hospital 

was unique. It displayed fluted pilasters which 

extended through the two stories while the 

entrance detail is reduced to a single story 

(Langford 1963). The exterior of the building is 

decorated with various animal heads and figures on 

the corners and sides made from cast stone. A 

shield on the exterior of the building, above the 

front entrance doors, bears the veterinary symbol 

which includes a V with two snakes wrapped 

around a center pole and wings on each side of the 

V. Encompassing the veterinary symbol are 

various sculptures and decorations including 

flowers, ram heads, cow skulls, and horse heads. 

On top of the veterinary symbol is a five-point star. 

  

Endress and Watkin: Francis Hall 

Francis Hall was designed by R. 

Adelsperger in the Romanesque style. Original 

estimates for the total construction of the building 

were $100,000. According to an informal history 

written by Dr. Francis, in an attempt to remain on 

budget, the original design dimensions were 

reduced. Further, Dr. Francis states that the 

reduction in scale caused problems with custom, 

pre-ordered furniture for the classrooms and 



 
 

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laboratories. Considering the design changes, it is 

likely that this alteration contributed to the seating 

issues in the large four-tiered auditorium. Though 

originally intended to be of Romanesque influence, 

Francis Hall, as completed by Endress and Watkin, 

conformed in a general way to campus buildings of 

the era. Langford confirms that more than the scale 

was altered in the final design. The Doric columns 

were replaced by brick pilasters that were crowned 

with both Ionic and Doric capitals. A typical 

entablature extends entirely around the building at 

the elevation of the third floor; window sills in the 

third-floor rest on the cornice of this entablature – 

all of which makes the building anything but 

Romanesque in character As Langford states, the 

Romanesque attributes originally designed were 

vacated in favor of a more classical or “Roman” 

design. Despite this, Adelsperger’s interior floor 

plan remained largely unchanged (Langford 1963).  

Figure 6. Original design of Francis Hall, Cushing 

Memorial Library & Archives, Texas A&M 

University.  

 

Giesecke and Vosper: 1932 Veterinary Hospital  

The new 1932 Veterinary Hospital building 

was one of 10 buildings that architects Frederick 

Giesecke and Charles Vosper built on the campus 

in a 5 year period (Nixon 1981). Giesecke was born 

in 1869 in Latium, Texas (Nixon 1981). Giesecke 

entered the Agricultural and Mechanical College 

of Texas in 1883 at the age of 14 and graduated 

first in his class (Nichols 2016). Upon graduation, 

he entered the faculty at the college as an instructor 

in mechanical engineering (Nichols 2016). Within 

two years, at the age of 19, Giesecke became Head 

of the Department of Mechanical Drawing 

(College of Architecture 2017). He left Texas 

shortly after becoming Department Head to pursue 

graduate work and received a degree in 

architecture from Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology and a Ph.D. from the University of 

Illinois (College of Architecture 2017; Nichols 

2016). Upon completion of his studies, he returned 

to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of 

Texas and continued teaching until 1912 (Nichols 

2016). He then left and moved across the state to 

the University of Texas, to accept a position as 

Head of their newly formed Department of 

Architecture (Nichols 2016). He stayed at the 

University of Texas until 1927 when he again 

returned to the Agricultural and Mechanical 

College of Texas as Head of the Architecture 

Department and College Architect (Nichols 2016). 

During his time as College Architect, Giesecke 

also served as director of the Engineering 

Experimentation Station on campus (College of 

Architecture 2017). He earned his fifth degree 

some years later, in 1943, in Civil Engineering 

from Illinois University (College of Architecture 

2017). Not only did Giesecke contribute to 

numerous buildings on campus at the Agricultural 

and Mechanical College of Texas, he also wrote 

several research articles and textbooks (Nixon 

1981). He was a member of numerous architectural 

and engineering groups and organizations until his 

death in 1953 (Nixon 1981). 

Charles Vosper was born in 1887 in New 

Jersey where he lived and trained until he joined 

the famous Lasky Players Corporation in 1913. 

With the corporation for seven years, Vosper 

designed theater sets for their many productions 

across the United States. He began working at the 

University of Texas in 1921 while Frederick 

Giesecke was Head of the Department of 



 
 

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Architecture. In 1928, one year after Giesecke left 

the University of Texas to return to the 

Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, 

Vosper was dismissed from the University of 

Texas. It was rumored that he was dismissed by the 

University due to inappropriately hiring a female 

nude model for an unknown purpose. He followed 

his former colleague Frederick Giesecke to 

College Station to work for the architecture 

department. He was at the Agricultural and 

Mechanical College of Texas until 1933 when he 

left to work for the Civil Works Administration in 

San Antonio and Austin. From 1933 to 1935 he 

also did work for the University of Texas 

Supervising Architect’s Office and the National 

Parks Service. Vosper was known as a Texas 

History fanatic and while working for the Civil 

Works Administration, he restored some of Texas’ 

historic landmarks including Independence Hall. 

He also helped restore Nuestra Señora del Espíritu 

Santo de Zúñiga Mission outside of Goliad, a 

project that took six years to fully complete. 

During the late 1930s, Vosper moved to 

Washington, D.C. and designed post office 

buildings for the Treasury Department during 

World War II. In 1945, he returned to Texas and 

worked in Pampa, San Antonio, and Bryan until 

his death in 1958 (Smith 1989). 

During their time working together at the 

Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, 

Giesecke and Vosper transformed the campus by 

designing 10 buildings between 1928-1932. 

Around 1928, with oil revenue generating monies 

for new buildings on campus, the two men literally 

turned the campus around. The men changed the 

entrance of the campus to face east, toward the 

newly formed state highway six, rather than the 

previous west which faced the local train station 

(McCoy 2013). 

 
Figure 7. New Entrance of Campus Facing East, 

Cushing Memorial Library & Archives, Texas 

A&M University. 

 

During their years they worked together, 

the men were responsible for the design of the 

Chemistry Building, Cushing Library, Hart Hall, 

Walton Hall, the Administration Building, the 

Petroleum Engineering Building, the Agricultural 

Engineering Building, the Animal Industries 

Building, the Veterinary Hospital, and a horse 

barn. These buildings cost a total of $3 million. In 

an article in Texas Architect, author Nancy McCoy 

describes Vosper’s unique interest in decoration as 

his own means of artistic expression. Ernest 

Langford described the designers as being 

“creative in their use of ceramic tile and cast stone” 

(Langford 1963). Vosper was known for using 

ornamental metals, stained glass, plaster and 

decorative paintings in his designs. The interior of 

the Veterinary Hospital displayed Vosper’s use of 

special finishes by materials such as scagliola, 

sgraffito, caen stone, metallic paints, glazing and 

stippling. Langford quoted one source in his 

unpublished manuscript Here We’ll Build the 

College, as saying that the Veterinary Hospital was 

the best of the buildings by Giesecke and Vosper 

(Langford 1963; McCoy 2013). 



 
 

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Figure 8. Architectural elements on Veterinary 

Hospital which is now Civil Engineering Building 

on Texas A&M Campus. Image courtesy of Rachel 

K. Turner.  

 

Remodeling, Relocating and Repurposing: The 

1950s 

As a result of continued growth of the 

Agricultural and Mechanical College as well as the 

Veterinary Medicine Department, the Veterinary 

Department was slated for relocation. This 

relocation was completed in 1954. The Veterinary 

Department moved to a 275-acre tract of land on 

the northwest side of campus on highway 60 

(Aggieland 1956). In 1950, a three-story addition 

was built onto Francis Hall. This addition was 

approved as a part of a long-range master plan 

supervised by Carleton W. Adams, the A&M 

System architect (The Eagle 1950). The contract 

for the 10,000-square foot addition was awarded to 

A.W. Brunson of Dallas, Texas at a planned cost 

of $150,000 (The Battalion 1950; The Eagle 1950). 

Francis Hall was also approved for a remodel. 

$110,000 was appropriated for a remodeling of the 

Francis Hall interior in preparation for use by the 

business school (A&M System News 1950). 

As the School of Veterinary Medicine 

settled into its new home, the remodeled and larger 

Francis Hall was repurposed to house the Business 

Department. Moved from its temporary structure, 

Francis Hall served as the first of two homes for 

the Business school prior to moving to its current 

 
Figure 9. Completed Veterinary Medicine 

Complex in 1954 on University Drive, Cushing 

Memorial Library & Archives, Texas A&M 

University. 

 

location in the Wehner Building on the West 

Campus of Texas A&M University. The new wing 

housed the main offices and some of the 

classrooms of the Business Department. 

Additionally, by 1963, Francis Hall had air 

conditioning installed throughout the building. A 

1963 headline and accompanying article in The 

Battalion was very suggestive. It read, “Sleeping in 

Lectures, Labs Should Improve This Year” (The 

Battalion 1963). 

A 1956 article in the local newspaper 

detailed the college board of director’s summary. 

It included a description of the contract awarded to 

Leftwich, Stenis and Harris Company to remodel 

four veterinary medicine buildings to be used for 

the Civil Engineering Department (The Eagle 

1956). The Leftwich, Stenis and Harris Company 

came in with a low bid of $238,153 for the 

renovations (The Eagle 1956). During this 

meeting, the Leftwich, Stenis and Harris Company 

also received a contract for remodeling the library 

building at Prairie View Agriculture and 

Mechanical College (The Eagle 1956). By 1956 

the Engineering Department was seeing extensive 

growth and housed 11 departments including 

Aeronautical, Architectural, Chemical, Civil, 



 
 

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Electrical, Geological, Geology, Industrial, 

Industrial Education, Mechanical, and Petroleum 

(Aggieland 1956). A year later in 1957, the local 

newspaper released an updated summary where 

the board of directors for the college accepted an 

additional $4,000 increase to the plans and 

expenses for the remodeling of the four veterinary 

buildings to accommodate the Civil Engineering 

Department (The Eagle 1955). 

 

Civil Engineering Department 

In 1957, with increasing enrollment, the 

Civil Engineering Department moved from its 

single building in Nagle Hall to five facilities that 

previously housed portions of the School of 

Veterinary Medicine (College of Engineering 

2016). The building previously known as the 1932 

Veterinary Hospital reopened as the Civil 

Engineering Building and was comprised mostly 

of classrooms and office space (Ramsey 1984). 

From 1957 to 1964 the building housed civil 

engineering faculty offices and classrooms and as 

the department grew, classrooms were turned into 

faculty offices (Ramsey 1984). 

Shortly after it re-opened in 1957, a story 

appeared in The Battalion that stated a concrete 

block was stolen from outside the building. The 

block weighed ten pounds and, while it looked 

innocent, the 18x6x4 inch package was not 

harmless. The block was compressed by a device 

with four steel rods on each corner and two steel 

plates. Between the steel plates was a ball bearing 

and heavy springs holding the plates together. The 

ends of the steel rods were tightened by large nuts. 

Loosening of the nuts could cause the block to slip 

out of position and explode like dynamite. The 

block was used by the Civil Engineering 

Department to test a special compressing machine. 

It was compressed until a reading of 24,000 

pounds, or 12 tons was registered. In an article that 

appeared in The Battalion on April 2, 1957, 

Henson Stephenson, a research engineer and 

manager of the Texas Transportation Institute 

explained “that for about a year we have been 

taking data and readings from the block.” He later 

goes on to say, “I am only interested in warning 

whoever has the device to be careful and not try to 

tamper with it in anyway. I am very much 

concerned over its disappearance and would like to 

have it back because of its research value.” The 

article goes on to state that the thief can write an 

anonymous letter to the department stating where 

the block is located and the department will see to 

it’s safe return. No follow up articles were found 

that mentioned the fate of the block (The Battalion 

1957).  

 
Figure 10. Article in The Battalion 1957, Cushing 

Memorial Library & Archives, Texas A&M 

University. 

 

Winds of Change: The 1960s 

During the 1960’s the Agricultural and 

Mechanical College of Texas experienced intense 

change in the student body. The student 

population, up until this time, was comprised of 

only white males. However, the 1960’s brought a 

wind of change. In 1962 and 1963, the College 

changed its official acceptance policies and 

extended admission to African American students 

and, on a limited basis, women. Women were 

allowed unrestricted admittance a few years later. 

Additionally, all students prior to 1965 were 

required to be members of the Corps of Cadets. 

This compulsory membership ended and new 



 
 

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students were given the opportunity to choose to 

become members of the Corps of Cadets. Finally, 

in 1963, the Agricultural and Mechanical College 

of Texas changed its name. By Texas legislative 

approval, the school became Texas A&M 

University. This name was an expression of the 

school’s growth. The “A” and “M,” once the 

initials denoting the school’s roots in agriculture 

and mechanical engineering, came to become 

simple representations of the University’s origins. 

Presumably, these changes, particularly those 

allowing African Americans and women 

admittance, altered the demographic in all 

university programs (Dethloff 2016). 

 

Remodeling, Relocating and Repurposing: The 

1980s 

The 1980s brought about further changes. 

First, Francis Hall, which had been home to the 

School of Business Administration required a new 

home. In 1981, the Business School was relocated 

to the new John R. Blocker Building. This vacancy 

provided a home for the Department of Recreation 

and Parks. Endearingly known as the “Gypsies of 

A&M,” the RPTS department made Francis Hall 

its sixth home in 15 years. According to Dr. Reid, 

who served as the first department head, Francis 

Hall brought an end to the nomadic life of the 

RPTS department. Dr. Reid believed Francis Hall 

would serve as the permanent location of the 

department. In fact, Francis Hall served as the 

home for Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Science 

until 2011 when it was moved to the newly 

constructed Agriculture and Life Science Building 

on the West Campus of Texas A&M University 

(Reid 1991).  

In the fall of 1983, the university opened 

bidding to companies for renovation to the Civil 

Engineering Building. In a June 9th, 1983 issue of 

the campus newspaper The Battalion, an article 

summarized the board of regents meeting where 

Texas A&M was expecting to award a contract late 

in July of 1983. The article quotes Dr. Donald 

McDonald, head of Civil Engineering. According 

to the article, construction would probably begin in 

September of 1983 and last about 13 months. Dr. 

McDonald goes on to say that the building is 

presently used for faculty offices and once 

renovations are complete, the building will house 

more classrooms, laboratories, and project rooms. 

This will require some faculty offices to be moved 

to laboratories, academic buildings, agency 

buildings, and The Highway Research Center. The 

Battalion article also mentions the majority of the 

renovation will be geared towards ensuring that the 

building is brought up to modern standards since 

this is the first work that would be done on the 

building since the 1960s (Tindel 1983).  

During the renovation process, classes 

relocated to various buildings in the area. Classes 

that usually took place in The Civil Engineering 

Building took place in Goodwin Hall, the Animal 

Industries Building, Zachry Engineering Center 

and McNew Engineering Lab. Administration 

offices in the Civil Engineering Building were 

moved across the street to The Highway Research 

Center. There was talk during this time of 

renovation to the exterior of the building as well. 

This information did not sit well with former 

Aggies. Former students requested that the 

University save the exterior stonework and 

sculptures due to their history and character. Dr. 

Robert M. Olson, liaison at the time between the 

Civil Engineering Department and the architects 

and builders, explained to The Battalion that the 

sculptures would be carefully cleaned and 

sandblasted, along with a brand-new roof. John 

Merchant, facilities construction manager at the 

time, said renovations would be completed by 

October 1984. The total cost of the renovation 

project was $2,444,000. Money for the project was 

provided by the University Available Fund which 

is income that was received from investments 

made by the Permanent University Fund. Also 

remaining is the original tile work in the entrance 

of the building as well as stained glass pieces 



 
 

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(Ramsey 1984; Winkler 1983). 

 
Figure 11. Tilework seen in entrance of Civil 

Engineering Building in 2017l. Image courtesy of 

Rachel K. Turner.  

 

The 21st Century 

In 2001, a 19-member Campus Master Plan 

Committee was formed to make determinations 

regarding the growth of university facilities in the 

21st Century. Additionally, this committee was 

charged with reorganizing the university campus. 

Reorganization was aimed at, “developing an 

‘academic corridor’ that would place most of the 

educational aspects of the university in the middle 

of campus and push service-oriented and 

nonstudent-geared departments to the campus’ 

periphery.” The article goes on to list several 

buildings on the proposed demolition list. Francis 

Hall made the list. Interestingly, only the 1950 

addition onto Francis Hall was listed for 

demolition (The Eagle 2004).  

The entirety of Francis Hall escaped the 

proposed demolition list when, in 2012, the 

building was offered to the Department of 

Construction Science. In order to accommodate the 

new department, the building needed major 

renovation. The complete remodel, designed by 

BRW Architects and completed by Satterfield & 

Pontikes Construction Inc. was budgeted at $10 

million. The remodel was completed in 2014 

(BRW Architects). 

To date, Francis Hall is the only, fully 

dedicated building used by a university 

Construction Science department. The building 

interior was completely rebuilt and now includes 

state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, and collaboration 

areas. A unique feature of the building is the 

exposed mechanical, electrical, and structural 

systems that serve as a learning laboratories. The 

exterior of the building was also fully updated and 

restored. Although the original design by 

Adelsperger was Romanesque, the restoration by 

Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc. 

maintained the redesigned, classical appointments 

changed by Endress and Watkin (Satterfield & 

Pontikes Construction, Inc. 2015).  

Today, the works of Giesecke and Vosper 

can still be seen on all 10 of their buildings. All of 

these buildings continue to remain in use (McCoy 

2013). The works of these two men have left a 

legacy to former students as well as the 

architectural community. In fact, the Civil 

Engineering Building is well known amongst 

architects. The building was photographed and 

described extensively in CITE, an architectural and 

design review magazine in Houston, Texas (Fox 

1998). This influence even extends into the arts 

and crafts. Rebecca Ewing Peterson authored a 

book titled Dreams of Aggieland, designed to help 

various levels of quilters create products that 

exemplify the Aggie spirit (Novak 1996). Due to 

its rich architectural history, one of the patterns in 

her book is the Civil Engineering Building (Novak 

1996). Peterson includes patterns in her book that 

range from architectural structures to 

contemporary designs of A&M logos and emblems 

(Novak 1996). 

Though officially known on campus as the 

Civil Engineering Building, a plaque inside the 

building dedicates it as the Reta and Bill Hayes 

Building. Bill and Reta supported Texas A&M 

through their leadership, character and respect. 

The Civil Engineering Building not only houses 

classrooms but is home to the Zachry Department 

of Civil Engineering Undergraduate Student 

Services office and the Zachry Department of Civil 



 
 

144 

 

Engineering Graduate Student Services office 

(Texas A&M University 1940). When 

approaching the Civil Engineering Building, it is 

hard not to notice the distinctive exterior design. 

This design includes sculptures and ornate tile. 

Students, faculty, and guests pass through wooden 

doors decorated with glass inlay. The foyer is 

decorated with the original blue and brown 

tilework. While a majority of the building houses 

offices and faculty, there are still a few original 

classrooms equipped with modern audio/visual 

equipment. 

 

Conclusion 

 Buildings, like the people that occupy 

them, each tell their unique story. Each narrative 

tells the story of their birth, their development, 

their changes, and sometimes their end. Francis 

Hall and the Civil Engineering building on the 

campus of Texas A&M University each have a rich 

heritage that continues. These buildings, once 

appropriated for veterinary use have, since their 

construction, been repurposed in response to the 

expanding curricular needs of a growing 

university. Indeed, their ultimate use may continue 

to change – time will tell as the university 

continues to grow in perpetuity. These two 

buildings, surrounded by others with stories all 

their own, demonstrate the need to uncover and 

make available the unique histories of the stalwart 

edifices that surround and serve the university.  

 

References 

 

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