The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Sorin Hall

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Institution Name: St. Edward's University
Original/Historic Place Name: Presentation Convent
Location on Campus: University Circle
Date(s) of Construction:

1913	original construction

Designer: unknown
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Beaux-Arts classicism, Regionalist/Vernacular (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, education, history
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: limestone

Walls: brick

Roof: metal shingle

Function:

ca. 1913	private residence (for a community of nuns, the Sisters of the Presentation from France)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	other (computer lab)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	faculty offices

Narrative:
Sorin Hall was built in 1913 as a Sisters' dwelling and infirmary. The two-story, hipped roof structure is a simple rectangular block with little ornamentation. On the main façade, a central gabled portico supported by Ionic columns on brick bases is flanked by four bays of wood sash windows. Brick soldier courses form a belt course and water table above the stone basement. What was originally a two-story gallery on the south and east façade is partially enclosed now at the second level.

References:

Bell, Klein & Hoffman, Architects and Restoration Consultants. Saint Edward's University: A Presentation Analysis for Five Older Campus Buildings. Austin, TX: Bell, Klein & Hoffman, Architects and Restoration Consultants, 1981.

Dunn, William H. Saint Edward's University: A Centennial History. Austin, TX: Saint Edward's University Press, 1986.