University of Texas at El Paso – Vowell Hall
El Paso, Texas

Description: Vowell Hall, University of Texas at El Paso
Other Names: Kelly Hall, Mass Communication Building, Old Kelly
Address: El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: educational: college, later university
Original Client: University of Texas Board of Regents
Historic Inventory: none
Date: 1920-1921
Condition: extent

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors:
Dimensions and Orientation: faces east; three stories; foundation has inside dimensions of 83 x 33 feet; walls batter inward 7 inches per ten feet; height, about 40 feet from grade to roof eaves (sloping site)
Budget/Cost:

Foundation: concrete
Wall Materials: plaster, over brick, stone and concrete
Roofing Materials: composition
Other Materials Used: exposed brick and glazed tile trim
Remodeling and Additions: addition constructed 1963

Present Owner: University of Texas Board of Regents
Location of Drawings: El Paso Public Library, O-2, 7 ink on linen plans dated December, 1920, including section, and side, front and rear elevations
Location of Documentary Photographs: El Paso Public Library, Aultman A5955, general view; Aultman 5957 (second building from right in general view, c. 1921); Aultman 5960 (building on right in general view, c. 1921)

Bibliography: (1) Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht, Henry C. Trost: Architect of the Southwest(El Paso: El Paso Public Library Association, 1981), page 67 (photograph A5957, listed above), as part of general discussion of campus, pages 64-68
(2) Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht, The Trost Touch; Henry Trost & the Bhutanese Architecture, Nova, the University of Texas at El Paso Magazine, volume XVI, number 2 (December, 1980), page 3 (photograph A5957, listed above)
(3) Nancy Hamilton, UTEP: a Pictorial History of the University of Texas at El Paso(El Paso: Texas Western Press, the University of Texas at El Paso; Norfolk: The Donning Company, 1988), page 35 (Aultman A5957, listed above, with caption giving name changes), page 49 (photograph of 1925, general view)
(4) The 1939 Flowsheet; Annual Publication of Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy(El Paso: 1939), page 12, general view, with brick frame added around main entrance

Remarks: Commission 2523
The design is Bhutanese; concerning Bhutanese architecture, and the role of Kathleen L. Worrell in the design of the campus buildings in a Bhutanese style, see remarks on the general campus entry, TXELPAE.007

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990