Historic Landmark Commission members have given their unanimous blessing to the demolition of St. Edward’s University’s St. Joseph Hall, despite its architectural significance and historic association with the Brothers of the Holy Cross.
The hall, which stands at 3001 S. Congress Ave., was designed by San Antonio firm Julian & White and constructed on a quarry in 1961. Though it has been vacant since 2019, at various points through its history, the building has been a faculty residence, chapel, library, office and even a bomb shelter for the university’s founders, the Brothers of the Holy Cross.
Though city preservation staff determined the building could meet criteria for landmarking given the architectural association and the association with the brothers, commissioners were convinced by arguments in favor of the demolition.
“I think the Brothers of the Holy Cross are well-represented in other structures, as are the architects, as is the style,” Commissioner Kevin Koch said. “This does not seem like singular property that would denigrate the campus as a whole enough to justify trying to landmark it.”
Larry Irsik, with the architecture firm Architexas, explained that the university estimates that adapting the building for a different use would cost from $8 million to $40 million, but ultimately found the building is incompatible with the different uses under consideration.
Credit: City of Austin
In addition, the building has fallen into disrepair and the chapel has already been partially deconstructed, with the altar donated to Austin’s St. Ignatius Martyr Catholic Church and pews from the chapel given to an Austin nunnery. A statue of Mary had been relocated to another chapel on campus. The university plans to salvage original, unique items including a large cross, a statue of Saint Joseph and stained-glass windows made in San Antonio.
The building is just one of several Julian & White-designed buildings on campus, with others being recently adapted and renovated to ensure their future use.
“We take this seriously. We have looked at options as to what we could do with the reuse of this building. None of them were feasible,” said Jim Morris, associate vice president for university associations at St. Edward’s University. “We appreciate the significance of the building. We have done what we can to try to preserve that legacy of the brothers and the Holy Cross mission for the university.”
Morris explained that a garden was dedicated to commemorating the brothers and their service.
The university has support from neighboring businesses like Foundation Communities, Colton House Hotel and Austin Sports Center and met with the South River City Citizens neighborhood association without any issues being raised about the demolition. Morris said that concerns about the university’s use of Hotel Occupancy Tax funds on the building were inaccurate, and they had not used any HOT funds on the building. In addition, he explained that the chapel does not need to be deconsecrated, as it was never consecrated in the first place. Instead, it was blessed.
Credit: City of Austin
Father Rick Wilkinson is a priest with the Congregation of the Holy Cross and former resident of St. Joseph Hall. He now lives with other former residents in a retirement home that he said is much more suited for the brothers who have an average age “in the low 80s” by his estimation.Wilkinson said that the hall served the brothers well at the time, but it isn’t ADA-compliant and has some common bathrooms, which isn’t a good fit for the elderly members of the brotherhood.
“The building really is not usable and I don’t think it has any historical value except for the men that lived there,” he said.
Chair Ben Heimsath said that the appreciated the effort to adapt the building for another use and believed that it would be a hard task, given the architecture and former function as a group home.
“It helps that they’ve done that successfully with other buildings on their campus,” said Commissioner Witt Featherston. “We know that they know what they’re doing when they try to do it. … It isn’t capricious.”
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the demolition, with Commissioner JuanRaymon Rubio recused.
St. Edward’s University is not a religious nonprofit, which means it isn’t subject to state laws that prevent cities from designating properties as historic landmarks without the consent of the religious organization.
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Historic Landmark Commission: The city’s Historic Landmark Commission promotes historic preservation of buildings and structures. The commission also reviews applications and permits for historic zoning and historic grants.
