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university dormitories are, for the most part, highly functional
structures that provide comfortable student living quarters.
They are generally unremarkable in appearance with little to set
them apart from other buildings on campus other than their plain
and simple designs. This was not always the case. In 1891-1892
Texas A&M constructed one of the most architecturally
interesting dormitories ever built on the campus. The building was
an outgrowth of an 1887 request from A&M's Board of Directors
to Governor John Ireland for a "barracks" of seventy
five rooms to house 150 students. The school asked for and
received $20,000 to accomplish the task.
What A&M got for its money was somewhat less
than envisioned but nevertheless a truly unique piece of
architecture. It was a three-story red brick building measuring
approximately 111 by 54 feet. It contained only 41 rooms, all
heated by wood burning stoves instead of the central heating plant
requested by the Board. The interior was stark, a central hallway
with rooms on either side on each of the three floors. There were
no baths or toilettes. Not until 1912 would these modern
conveniences make their appearance in Ross. It was, however, the
elaborate exterior that made the building more than just a
dormitory. Here the architect, E. M. Heiner of Houston, employed
all the skills of his craft. The complexity of design created
numerous problems. Chimneys had to be warped as much as forty-five
degrees to keep from cutting into the rafters. The design was so
unorthodox that President Lawrence Sullivan Ross had serious
doubts which he communicated to the architect. |
Not until the
building was finished was the faculty satisfied that the structure
would stand.
Until 1930 the
building served as dormitory space. Student escapades in the
building were the things of which legends are made. Many an old
timer reminisced about the good old days in Ross.
But, by the 1920's old Ross Hall was past its
prime. The unstable soil conditions on the campus alternately
pushed and pulled the building apart at the seams. If this were
not enough, bats and skunks moved in as unwelcome guests. Strange
nocturnal flying objects and objectional fumes plagued the cadets
living in Ross. A swatting campaign gradually drove out the bats
while gallons of creasote sprayed under the building removed the
odoriferous interlopers. The Board condemned the building in 1930
making it a storage facility. The last Corps unit to live in the
building moved out hurriedly, supposedly fearing the building
might fall on them. World War II brought a desperate need for
space on campus and old Ross Hall was renovated as a home for the
Military Department. In 1950, the Military Department added some
artillery field pieces and 260 one hundred pound practice bombs to
the lawn to improve the looks of what had by then become as the
"Poor Man's Pentagon." The two 3-inch field pieces were
brought to the campus by the Commandant, Col. H.L. Boatner, from
Galveston when old Fort Crockett closed. In addition there were
two 57 mm anti-tank guns. The Battalion joked that these would be
used to ward off low flying aircraft trying to bomb Bonfire.
By 1954, no amount of renovation could save Ross
Hall. Unsafe and worn out, the wreckers moved in to tear it down
board-by-board and brick-by-brick. Sadly, one of the most
distinctive landmarks on campus was no more. |
