Main Building, Historic university building in Austin, United States

Main Building is a four-story Collegiate Gothic hall of St. Edward's University, clad in local white limestone on its north facade, with brick on the sides and rear. Two bulkier east and west wings flank a narrower central segment, and a round bell tower rises from the rear, ending in an octagonal open arcade and steep pyramid roof. The north entry has a flared staircase, red double doors under a pointed gable, and tall lancet windows with hood molding.

St. Edward's University was founded in 1877 by Edward Sorin, who also founded Notre Dame. President Peter Joseph Hurth hired Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton, and the first Main Building, four stories of Gothic Revival, went up in 1887–1888. A fire destroyed it on April 9, 1903; Clayton rebuilt it on the same plan with fireproofing, ready for the fall 1903 semester. It entered the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 with Holy Cross Hall.

The building's name and role tie it to St. Edward's High School, whose administration sat here from 1921 until the school closed in 1967. During World War II the same halls housed a military academy and flight school. Holy Cross Hall, built alongside it in 1903, served as a dormitory and later held classrooms, offices and meeting space.

The main entry is on the north facade, reached by a flared staircase up to a one-story porch with red double doors under a Gothic arch. The bell tower rises from the rear, so only its octagonal upper section shows from the front. The south and side walls are brick, not limestone.

The north facade is clad in local white limestone, but the sides and rear are brick, except the tower's lower portion and its buttresses. The bell tower rises from the rear, so only its octagonal upper section, ringed by open Gothic arches and topped by a cross-shaped finial, shows above the front roofline.