- City:
- Houston, TX
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Colleges and Universities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Designers:
- Alfred C. Finn, Lamar Cato
Description
The University of Houston’s old Industrial Building, now known as the Technology Annex, was constructed with the assistance of the Work Projects Administration, a New Deal agency.
Houston, a history and guide: “Newest of the units is the INDUSTRIAL BUILDING (open workdays), north east of the central quadrangle. The first of a six-structure center planned for industrial training in a proposed north quadrangle, the one-story building harmonises in design with the other edifices and, like them, is finished in Texas limestone. Over-all dimensions are 310 feet by 150 feet.
Following the industrial style, windows almost completely encircle the building. Its central facade is marked by a low tower rising a few feet above the tile roof of the long wings that extend in unbroken simplicity to moderate offsets near each end. The main entrance is in the base of the tower. Approximately 75 per cent of the total 40,000 square feet of floor space is devoted to three large shops, and the remainder to laboratories and classrooms. The building will accommodate 350 students.
Several Houston industrial concerns and the university contributed $127,385 to the construction of the building, and the Work Projects Administration supplied $52,745. The primary purpose of this unit is to train students for technical work in plants of companies supplying the building funds. Courses are planned to give general shop training to new students, as well as advanced or specific training to employed workers seeking to increase their efficiency.”
Source notes
"Houston, a history and guide," by Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Texas (pg. 300)
https://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/p15195coll3/item/91 (accessed Mar. 2018)
Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on March 31, 2018.
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