Talk:Main Building of The University of Texas at Austin

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An entry from Main Building of The University of Texas at Austin appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 20 January 2006 (permalink).

Contents 1 Added... 2 libraries 3 Suicides 4 Where the hell is it? 5 the tower is 28-floors tall

[edit] Added...

...a bit about the Burleson Bells today. Follow that link, there's a picture of them. I guarantee you'll recognize the structure, and go "Oh!" I had no idea what those things were even though I passed them almost every day. (I only know because I did a story about UT's building architecture when I was a student.) · Katefan0^(scribble)/mrp 19:59, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I knew they were tower bells but not the OLD MAIN bells ;-) I forgot to add them to the article! I know Rebelguys2 (talk • contribs) checked out a fantastic book from the PCL that covered a lot of the Tower destruction and construction in 1934-7. Did you know that people wrote poems in protest? LOL. Now we write rock songs, so I suppose it's just poetry with a melody. Anyway, I'm hoping we can check it out again and get more information. Any chance that you wrote any of those articles on the Tower? — Scm83x ^talk 20:08, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

I'll never tell! <coy></coy> · Katefan0^(scribble)/mrp 20:22, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] libraries

Does anybody know if that little science library is still in the main building, also? It was when I was a student a few years ago. I remember going up into this teeny room with horrendously narrow stack aisles (and the referenced dumbwaiter) to do research for a term paper on fetal alcohol syndrome. · Katefan0^(scribble)/mrp 20:04, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Again, I think Rebelguys2 (talk • contribs) goes there to study a lot. I've never been inside the library there but he mentioned it being the "Life sciences" library. No doubt, it's still there. — Scm83x ^talk 20:08, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

• But before you get into the teeny stacks, there is the is the main reading room with its beautifully stenciled beams. UT still has it mentioned on their website at this link[1]. Johntex\^talk 20:08, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

• I should clarify that link has more than a mention - they have some nice photos there. The stencilling includes the wording from the constitution about the establishment of a university of the first class...Johntex\^talk 20:10, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

• Anyone think it'd be relevant to have a picture of the Life Science library on the page? I don't have anymore classes today, so I could go snap one. — Scm83x ^talk 20:16, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that's it. Life sciences library. I knew it was some science or another. I never had a reason to go there until I did that paper on FAS, I remember how shocked I was to learn that "MAI" on UTCAT meant main building :/ · Katefan0^(scribble)/mrp 20:18, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

I think it'd be fun to have a shot of the dumbwaiter (which they were still using as of a couple years ago. I was completely befuddled by it.) · Katefan0^(scribble)/mrp 20:18, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Egad - I'm surrounded by Liberal Arts majors!!!  :-) I spent *a lot* of time in that library. It is very conveniently located to the greenhouses and the turtle pond. Although I think I remember reading a while back that the turtle pond was jeopardized by some new building expansion. Is it still there? And yes, a photo from the Life Science Library would be awesome, please. Johntex\^talk 20:22, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, it's still there. I doubt they'd get rid of it now that they made it into also a memorial to the tower shootings. [2] · Katefan0^(scribble)/mrp 20:27, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Scm83x and I grabbed a few shots of the Life Sciences Library earlier this afternoon. Scm83x also asked one of the librarians about the dumbwaiter; apparently, they removed it quite a while back. Now all that's left of the shaft that housed the dumbwaiter is a closet filled with wiring and servers for the computers throughout the Tower. -Rebelguys2 01:54, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suicides

Just for the record, how many suicides took place before the barriers were installed? (needed for the suicide sites article) - Eagle^amn 04:38, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

• 9 suicide jumpers, not included Whitman, who arguable committed suicide by cop. The tower was closed intermittently due to the suicides and the shootings, until the barrier solution was finally adopted. I put a link to this newspaper article over at "List of suicide sites" for you. Johntex\^talk 04:50, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Where the hell is it?

Does the building have an address? Is it on a street some where? Funkyj 19:59, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Great question! It's in the middle of the campus. It is basically in the center of this Google map I guess the address would be off "Inncer Circle Drive" or maybe off "West 22nd Street". My initial attempt to find an actual street address has not been sussessful - the hits I'm finding give a mail stop, not a street address. I'll keep looking. Johntex\^talk 20:13, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Here is the street address:

The University of Texas at Austin

2400 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, Texas 78712 [3]

I see Jareha has already added the appropriate maps and geographical coordinates to the article. Johntex\^talk 22:30, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] the tower is 28-floors tall

According to [4], the tower is 28-floors tall, with the observation deck being on the 28th floor. [5] elaborates:

“

For the first time since it was built, the observation deck will be accessible to people who would be unable to climb a series of small stairs leading from the 27th floor to the observation deck. A newly installed elevator between the 27th floor and the observation deck is among the renovations made in recent months to prepare the Tower observation deck for reopening.

”

TerraFrost 17:29, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

According to [6], it's actually 29 stories tall. Maybe the tower has a basement and they're counting that? TerraFrost 17:41, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

We discussed this somewhere before but I don't remember where. (The main UT article perhaps). We were not able to reach a definitive conclusion. For one thing, the observation deck is not the highest point in the structure. There is definitely a basement; should that count as a "story"? The Carillon is housed above the observation deck. Should that count as a "story"?

If I recall correctly we went with "27 floors" because that is the number of "floors" of office space. Johntex\^talk 18:31, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm - interesting. It doesn't seem to be in the talk pages for University of Texas, so I guess I'll have to keep my eye out for it :) TerraFrost 18:45, 13 March 2007 (UTC)