Administration Building
1820 E. Eighth St., Austin, TXThe Administration Building is a three-dimensional representation of the pragmatic philosophy of industrial arts which typified Negro education in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Huston-Tillotson College is a coeducational liberal-arts and sciences college which was formed by the merger of Samuel Huston College and Tillotson College in 1952. In 1914, when the Administration Building was constructed, the campus at 1820 East 8th Street was known simply as Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute.
While Tillotson College was created to provide Negroes with a strong liberal arts education, a large part of the pedagogical program emphasized industrial and technical training. A facility for teaching industrial classes had been constructed by 1887, and Evans Industrial Hall was largely completed by 1912.
Tillotson College made no secret of its interest in manual training and the Administration Building was a direct product of that interest. Constructed in 1914 by students trained on campus, the building was made of materials manufactured by students on the College grounds. The building derives its significance not only from the fact that it is a fine institutional example of modified Prairie style, but also because, with Evans Industrial Hall, it is a three-dimensional representation of the pragmatic philosophy of industrial arts which typified Negro education in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.