Decorative artisan Nancy Lee Morris is no stranger to restoration efforts at The University of Texas at Austin. After working on both Battle Hall and Hogg Memorial Auditorium, Morris is back to give new life to the spandrels adorning the Forty Acres’ most iconic building: the Tower.
Of all the Tower’s spandrels — the rectangular panels that separate the top of one window from the bottom of another — more than 100 are cast with a letter of the ancient Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew, Latin or Phoenician alphabet. Over time, those letters have rusted, and Morris is restoring each of them — by hand.
I’m saving something and bringing it back to where it once was. I’ve got a lot of pride in it.
Each spandrel is approximately two and a half days’ work for Morris. The multi-step process concludes with delicate gold leaf being applied to each letter.
“Not only is the work important to me, but the history behind it is important, as well. I’m restoring them to how they were done in 1937, and they’re going to last a really long time,” Morris added.
For more on the University’s once-in-a-lifetime venture to restore, revitalize and reimagine the Tower, visit tower.utexas.edu.
