Ordway Hall
Amarillo, Potter County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Architect Guy Carlander designed this administration building for Amarillo College. It was built in 1936-37 and later named for George Ordway, who with James Guleke obtained legislative authority to establish the school; Ordway later became the first president. The L-plan building consists of an auditorium and a two-story classroom and office wing with 19 bays terminating in a four-story tower. Geometric Art Deco style elements such as chevrons, flutes and parallel bands accent the buff brick and cast stone exterior. Sculpted terra cotta panels on the corners depict gnomes reading and writing. Interior materials include buff and red brick walls and terrazzo floors with diamond and mosaic patterns.Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-2008
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1936–37 to a design by architect Guy Carlander, Ordway Hall served as the administration building for Amarillo College and was named for George Ordway, who helped win the legislative authority to found the school and became its first president. Its buff-brick, L-shaped form rises to a four-story tower and is dressed in crisp Art Deco ornament — chevrons, flutes, and terra-cotta panels of gnomes at their books. Inside, terrazzo floors and patterned brick carry the same careful craftsmanship.
Why it matters
The building captures the ambitious 1930s expansion of public higher education in Texas and stands as a fine regional example of the Art Deco style that defined civic architecture between the wars.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The 1930s were a paradox on the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle. The Great Depression had gutted the economy, and the Dust Bowl was scouring the region with drought and blowing soil. And yet, in the middle of that hardship, Amarillo built for the future — investing in a college building designed to last generations.
Much of that was possible because of federal recovery programs that put people to work on public buildings during the Depression, and because a growing Panhandle city wanted a college of its own. Amarillo had grown up fast as a railroad and cattle town, and by the mid-1930s it was ready to plant the roots of higher education.
The result, built in 1936–37, belongs to the Progressive and Modern Era, when American cities expressed civic optimism through bold, forward-looking architecture. Even as dust darkened the skies, the choice to build in the sleek, confident Art Deco style was a statement of faith that better times — and educated generations — were coming.
People & events
The building rose from the vision of several people. George Ordway, together with James Guleke, secured the legislative authority needed to establish the school — the unglamorous but essential work of turning an idea into a legally chartered institution. Ordway went on to become the college's first president, and the administration building was later named in his honor.
The design came from architect Guy Carlander, who gave Amarillo College an L-shaped landmark: an auditorium joined to a two-story classroom and office wing, its nineteen bays marching toward a four-story tower. Carlander worked in crisp Art Deco, dressing the buff brick and cast stone in chevrons, flutes, and parallel bands.
The most charming touches are the small ones. Sculpted terra-cotta panels at the corners depict gnomes reading and writing — a whimsical nod to the life of the mind housed within. Inside, terrazzo floors laid in diamond and mosaic patterns and walls of buff and red brick carried the same careful craftsmanship from the street to the classroom.
Its place in the American story
Ordway Hall captures a genuinely national moment: the Depression-era expansion of public higher education. Even in the hardest economic decade of the twentieth century, Americans kept building colleges, convinced that widening access to education was how the country would recover and grow.
Its architecture tells that story too. Art Deco was the defining style of American civic and commercial buildings between the World Wars — the look of skyscrapers, theaters, post offices, and courthouses from coast to coast. Seeing it in a Panhandle college building shows how a national design language reached even the remote High Plains.
Many of these Depression-era public buildings were made possible by the era's federal work programs, which employed craftsmen and artists and left communities with durable, beautiful public spaces. Ordway Hall stands as a fine regional example of that legacy, recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2008.
If you visit
Approach Ordway Hall the way its architect intended — from the front, where the long wing of bays draws your eye toward the rising tower. Let the whole composition register before you get close.
Then come close, because the delight here is in the details. Look to the corners for the sculpted terra-cotta gnomes bent over their books, and trace the Art Deco chevrons, flutes, and bands worked into the buff brick and cast stone. If you can step inside, look down: the terrazzo floors carry diamond and mosaic patterns that reward a slow eye.
Amarillo makes a natural stop on a Panhandle road trip, and a building like this rewards travelers who like their history layered — Depression-era ambition, between-the-wars design, and a little architectural humor, all in one landmark.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Guy Carlander
- · George Ordway
- · James Guleke
Themes & tags
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