"Nestled in the southeast corner of the Main Mall, peeking out from behind a canopy of live oak and magnolia trees, Garrison Hall is an architectural gem. Unfortunately, it goes largely ignored, overshadowed by its neighbor, none other than the UT Tower. But for the visitor who takes the time to look, Garrison is well worth the effort.
Opened in 1926, Garrison Hall was host to a collage of academic departments; English, government, psychology, sociology, philosophy, economics and history initially shared the facility, though all but the last have since found lodgings elsewhere on the campus. That Garrison Hall should be the headquarters for the Department of History is particularly fitting. The building’s namesake, George P. Garrison, joined the University faculty in 1884, served as the first chair of the history department, and was a founding member of the Texas State Historical Association.
The cornerstone of Garrison Hall, as with the cornerstones of most of the buildings on the Forty Acres, is hollow, something like a permanently sealed time capsule. It contains artifacts of the University in the 1920s, along with documents connected with Dr. Garrison’s life and career.
The building’s odd placement – looking across the Main Mall, it doesn’t line up with Battle Hall as one might expect – was the product of significant changes on the campus. The University acquired more land for the first time in 1921. The addition expanded the original Forty Acres to the east and southeast, and were made possible by an appropriation by the Texas Legislature.
Campus designers were eager to take advantage of the gently sloping hill that extended east into the new terrain, and initially proposed a radical new campus master plan. It altered the original southward orientation of the University to face east, and introduced a single mall, 175 feet wide, that connected the crest of the hill at the center of the Forty Acres – where the old Main Building stood and where the Tower is today – with Waller Creek at the bottom of the slope. The University Library (now Battle Hall) was to be the revised focus of the campus, while the Old Main Building was removed in favor of a large, square plaza, 450 feet long on each side. The library was to be enlarged so that its façade was roughly three times the length of the original building, and would be centered on the plaza’s west side. Across the plaza to the east, two L-shaped buildings were proposed at the southeast and northeast corners, set to visually outline the width of the eastern mall.
The Board of Regents initially approved the idea in 1924, and made Garrison Hall their top priority. It was placed in the footprint of the building planned for the southeast corner of the plaza. But within a year, the board reconsidered, preferred the University continue to face south toward the Capitol, and retracted their decision. Garrison Hall, though, was already under construction.
Along with its unusual location, Garrison’s ornamentation also represented a departure from earlier UT structures. Architect Cass Gilbert, who designed Battle and Sutton Halls, favored the inclusion of classical icons for his Mediterranean-styled campus buildings. Owls, an ancient symbol of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, were placed under the eaves of Battle Hall, while Sutton Hall was adorned with scallop shells, emblematic of Venus, the Goddess of Truth and Beauty.
While Garrison Hall continues the same Mediterranean motif, its ornamentation is unmistakably “Texan.” Limestone carvings of longhorn skulls, cacti and bluebonnets decorate the entrances. Imprinted below the eaves are the names of statesmen from the Republic of Texas, among them: Houston, Austin, Travis and Lamar. And 32 terra-cotta cattle brands adorn the building, carefully chosen to represent various periods in the development of the State of Texas. Garrison Hall is the only college building anywhere to have cattle brands on its outer walls. The unusual choice received national press while the building was under construction.
The idea came from Dr. William Battle, then chair of the Faculty Building Committee. Though he was, ironically, a professor of Greek and Classical Civilization, Battle claimed not to be “stuck” on classical icons for UT buildings, and suggested the use of images that pertained to what was housed inside them."
Source: The UT History Corner-- (
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