Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
Students in an architectural drawing class at Texas A&M learned about perspective and light while sketching inside the stately, stained-glass interior of the Williams Administration Building.
Led by graduate assistant Christine Liu, students drew the building’s ornate interior as midmorning light streamed through its stained-glass windows.
The Classical Revival-style building, which opened its doors in 1932, was designed by Samuel Charles Phelps Vosper, a professor of architecture at Texas A&M.
It debuted as The Texas A&M University System’s headquarters, designed to face what was then the new state highway, symbolizing the shift from the train to the automobile as a primary mode of travel.
The interior, where the students worked, features a 53-foot-high first-floor lobby with a terrazzo floor map showing major historical sites of Texas.
In 1997, the building was named to honor Jack K. Williams, who served as Texas A&M’s 17th president from 1970-77.
Among the Williams Building tenants are the College of Architecture’s Center for Health Systems & Design, the CRS Center for Leadership and Management in the Design and Construction Industry, the Center for Heritage Conservation, and college faculty offices.
