South Plaza Architecture

Standing on the South Plaza, this tour stop highlights the aspirational nature of the UT architectural landscape created against the backdrop of an otherwise mostly rural Texas of the 1930s. Evocative of Europe, the hedges, monuments, and architectural styles that adorn the plaza offer insight into the aesthetic behind this iconic part of campus. This aesthetic creates a historical context for interpreting the landscape design and the statuary that once lined the South Mall—the following stops on the tour.

So here we are at the edge of the main plaza. We’ve just walked through an impressive space. What feel do we get from this space? What does it remind us of? And perhaps, more importantly, what is this space aspirational of? We passed over a broad, flat, paved plaza, with formal hedges on all sides, and very formal neo-classical architecture in the buildings that flank the space. So, the question is, what is this evocative of?
What I get, eventually, from folks, is that it’s evocative of a Greco-Roman influenced classical landscape and architecture. It’s a formal space. It’s evocative of Europe and the whole European tradition embedded in the traditions and mannerisms of Greco-Roman civilization. In fact, most of the campus is designed similarly in a formal Spanish Rennaissance architectural style.
So then the next question is, well this is central Texas, and this whole tableau was finished in the 1930’s. The tower opened in the 1936. So, by the mid 1930`s this was all in place. One can only imagine what central Texas was actually like in the 1930’s. It was still pretty rural in comparison with, say New York City. Much less formal than European, rather provincial, and yet we have this aspirational kind of landscape architecture here.
Why is it here? I was on a panel, actually it was a committee, that was working on creating a plan for the next twenty years of landscape architecture here at the University of Texas. The University spent over a million dollars to hire one of the top landscape architecture companies in the nation, to help develop this plan for the University. Their architects went out to each space and place on campus to make an evaluation. What kind of changes were to be recommended? From where we are standing now, this whole South Mall, the recommendation was to do nothing, because according to these architects, this space appealed to a universal aesthetic.
I’m an anthropologist, and to me, saying there is any such thing as a universal aesthetic is an anathema. Because aesthetics are culturally constructed and different groups of people have different aesthetics. But this was understood to be, and appealed to a universal aesthetic, in the sense that it was evocative of western modernity and a western modern aesthetic which has, for many people, taken on a status of universality.
This is what the University was aspiring to, and this is the kind of space that it created. It was created as a way of being aspirational to the highest levels of western and Greco-Roman aesthetics in civilization. We can tie this into the motifs on the tower, the Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Phoenician and Egyptian letters, the names of great men of letters in Western civilization, and the emblems of great Universities. This space is aspirational in relation to the University approaching these heights of cultural and knowledge achievement. Quite an aspiration for dusty Central Texas at this time.
When we think about these kinds of spaces in Europe, and we think about what populates these spaces: broad plazas, formal hedges, monumental architectural accomplishments, we also think about artwork. In Greco-Roman and European spaces, the artwork, which often times is including these spaces, is statuary. In Greece and Rome, it’s statues of Gods. In Europe, it’s either great leaders, or religious figures of one sort or another: Michelangelo’s David, Venus de Milo. We here at the University of Texas, have our own statues of folks who we think of as Gods, or people who are on high.
So, let’s walk down and look at some of the statues that are here on the South Mall, and the places where there used to be statues and think about what they represent and why those statues are no longer with us.

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8. Jefferson Davis and George Washington Statues

1933 architectural planning map of the University of Texas rendered by Paul Philippe Cret, with the location of the Jefferson Davis/George Washington tour stop marked.