St. Edward's University Campus Tour

St. Edward's University sits on a hill in South Austin, on farmland that Father Edward Sorin, the priest who founded Notre Dame, bought for the Congregation of Holy Cross in the 1870s. The Catholic school moved to this hilltop in 1889 and grew up around a white-limestone Gothic Revival castle that still anchors the campus. This short loop starts at that building and its twin, visits a centuries-old live oak and the campus chapel, and ends among newer buildings by a Pritzker Prize-winning architect.

St. Edward's sits on a South Austin hilltop with downtown on the skyline, and its compact campus holds well over a century of Catholic, architectural and Texas history. The land was once farmland acquired by Father Edward Sorin, the Holy Cross priest who founded Notre Dame, and the school has grown up around its pale limestone 'castle' since moving here in 1889.

That castle is the Main Building, a Gothic Revival landmark by Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton. Gutted by fire in April 1903, it was rebuilt under Clayton's direction quickly enough for classes to resume that October. Its companion, Holy Cross Hall, also by Clayton, was hit by a deadly tornado in 1922, and the two share a National Register listing. The Sorin Oak, which the university estimates at around 250 years old, is said to be part of why Father Sorin favored this hill, and it won Austin's 2022 Tree of the Year contest in the large-tree category.

For a jump to the 21st century, look for the angular brick residence halls designed by Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, who modeled them on monasteries, clustering small rooms around shared spaces and an inner courtyard. Aravena won the Pritzker Prize in 2016, and these halls remain his only completed work in the United States.

It's a compact, beautiful walk that shows how a small hilltop school has kept its old soul while embracing bold new design.