In the 1950s, St. Edward’s University was expanding quickly. To meet the needs of the new students headed to the Hilltop, St. Edward’s got creative. To construct Fleck Hall, St. Edward’s repurposed war surplus buildings and added new construction to create a “concrete shoebox” for the science department with 10 labs, three classrooms, and 13 offices. The building opened in 1958 after just nine months of construction.
In 2006, the John Brooks Williams Natural Science Center opened, leaving Fleck Hall vacant. The building was originally scheduled to be demolished but architect Arthur Andersson laid out a plan to save the building and add a third floor. “Sustainability isn’t the easy choice. Figuring out how to keep a building is difficult, especially in our consumption-focused society,” Andersson said at the time. With sustainability in mind, the building was given a south-facing glass wall to fill the building with daylight and reused materials, cutting down on landfill waste. Fleck Hall’s remodel was completed in 2007 and became the home of the School of Education.
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- Fleck Hall, 1958
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- Fleck Hall, 2011
1958 photo courtesy of St. Edward’s University Archives and Special Collections. Photographer: Neal Douglass
2011 image of Fleck Hall ©Andersson-Wise Architects