1937: Mines Building Plans Studied

July 8, 1937

Architects to Follow Tibetan Style in Constructing $100,000 Edifice
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Leon White, consulting architect for the College of Mines $100,000 administration and library building, will arrive here withing the next few days to work with Percy McGhee on plans, President Wiggins of the College said today.

The new building will be of Tibetan architecture to conform with the other college building. It will be more like the El Paso Centennial Museum on the campus, a slightly modified form of the original buildings, President Wiggins said.

The Mines buildings are copies of houses and monasteries in the province of Bhutan below Tibet. Mrs. S.H. Worrell, whose husband was dean of Mines, chose the style in 1917, records show.

President Wiggins said today he is pleased by the gift of 150 acres to the college from the American Smelting & Refining Co. The land was presented to Mines through Brent Rickard, general manager of the Smelter and approved by the Texas University Board of Regents. The land adjoins the mines campus west of the stadium.