Jack K. Williams Building and Scoates Hall Capital Renewal

Some buildings just have the presidential look. At Texas A&M, it’s the Jack K. Williams Administration Building. Built in 1932, it was designed to house the office of the President and other administrative staff. At 67,326 square feet, it looked the part. The Ionic columns and distinguished interior gave the sense of a place where decisions were made and meetings of importance were held. They were until the 1950s when the president and administrative offices were relocated.

It was a remark by former President of Baylor University, Kenneth Starr, who was visiting Texas A&M, that prompted the return of the president to the Williams Building. When Starr arrived on campus, he walked into Williams, thinking that was where the president’s office would be. He was informed it was across campus, and during his meeting, he remarked that the university’s president and administrative staff belonged in the more distinguished Williams Building. And it was that quip from Starr that prompted the university to return those offices to Williams.

Nearby Scoates Hall is another culturally important building to Texas A&M. Home of the Agricultural Engineering Department, the historic preservation efforts at Scoates would become a catalyst for other projects.
Both projects became watershed moments for the University.

Our team, along with Texas A&M, uncovered much of the school’s early history as we worked through the projects. And they continue to be pivotal in the University’s support for historic rehabilitation on its campus.

As historic preservation architects, our team knew the significance of these materials. We took Texas A&M’s leadership on a tour to show them what we’d found, and they bought in. They saw the importance of preserving the historic character and finishes in these historic buildings, which are special and core to the university’s heritage. Seeing what we’d discovered sparked excitement in the administrative staff. While the budget did not allow for a full restoration, we were able to preserve what was there and move the needle toward restoration in certain areas. After a 50-year absence, the President of Texas A&M greets visitors in the reconditioned wood-paneled office, with end-irons retrieved from a later owner in the fireplace, a restored private restroom, and a view of the campus to the west.  

Luckily, the building had already been preserved, and although many of the finishes were covered by dropped ceilings or carpet, they remained and uncovering them helped everyone come to appreciate the architectural legacy of the 1930s in ways they had not focused on in the past. This led the Treanor team to write articles, give lectures, and ultimately, to write a book on the subject of Vosper’s ten buildings on the campus, all of which enhanced awareness of this legacy in students, faculty, and administration.

Treanor’s team started this project just as we had the Williams Building, with documentation of the existing historic features and prioritization of the spaces. With that knowledge in hand, our team designed upgrades for the historic building’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and new elevators. The project scope included code and accessibility compliance, while our team maintained a keen eye on preserving Scoates’s historic interior. In the building’s lecture hall, we replicated the original stenciled ceiling and used a color scheme that complements the historic finishes we discovered.

The work in Scoates helped spark additional fundraising efforts for historic preservation projects in the building because of its significance to Texas A&M’s legacy. The National Trust grant for studying historic finishes led to historic finishes studies in other buildings like Halbouty and Haynes, where Treanor would later be commissioned to restore and update the historic lecture halls. The work our team undertook was larger in scope and more focused on historic preservation than originally intended, largely because of the university’s passion for its history.