Masters Hall

Masters Hall was built in 1951 where the north part of the Life Sciences Complex now stands. Originally housing both the biology and chemistry departments, it was named for W.N. Masters, head of the chemistry program from 1910 to 1941. One of the cartouches that decorated the three-story building -- which featured an Egyptian main doorway -- sits at the northeast corner of the Life Sciences Complex. Masters Hall was renamed the Chemistry Building in 1967 after the Biology Building, now the south part of the complex, was erected next door. Students moving to Masters Hall from the crowded 1910 Science Building remember the luxurious new lecture hall complete with movie projection booth and raised seating. Other modern facilities included bacteriology, zoology, embryology, botany and chemistry labs. Faculty members researched municipal water quality, antibiotics and anti-tubercular drugs. Although the Texas Legislature had appropriated money to build Masters Hall in 1941, the project was canceled during the war. The facilities department hailed the completed building as "the long-delayed fulfillment of the hopes and aspirations and needs" of the biology and chemistry departments. The Campus Chat newspaper called it simply "the scientist's dream." In 2004, the chemistry department moved to the new Chemistry Building on the corner of Mulberry Street and Avenue C. In 2008, Masters Hall was torn down to make way for the Life Sciences Complex, the first structure on campus to be LEED cretified for green building design.