Tag Archives: Old Administration Building

Dana Arts Center, Cutten Hall, Bryan Hall, and O’Connor Campus Center built (p. 336)

also established a scholarship program for five years with an initial grant of $130,000 with the possibility of extending it for a second five-year period.

The expansion of Colgate’s physical facilities, an important feature of the Case presidency, continued during his successor’s. Four new buildings were erected and others modified or renovated. With the destruction of the Administration Building by fire in October, 1963, the old library, then serving as a Foreign Language Center, became the new Administration Building after extensive alterations and the transfer of the language center to Lawrence Hall. The Reid Athletic Center, in use since 1959, was completed in 1966 with the dedication of the basketball court to the memory of Wesley M. Cotterell, ’19, Trustee, 1961-65; the hockey rink in 1965 had been named for J. Howard Starr, Professor of Physical Education Emeritus, and former hockey coach. Alumni Hall was completely remodeled in 1965 and occupied by the Division of the Social Sciences, except for the Education Department which was located in Lawrence Hall; Arthur A. Meggett, ’36, was the architect. The Arts Center, named for Charles A. Dana whose foundation had provided a challenge grant as the basis of the funds raised for the building, was completed in 1966. A striking example of modern architecture, it was designed by Paul Rudolph, and provided classroom, office, studio and performing space for courses and activities in the fine arts, music and drama, and also housed a theater and an art gallery. Two residence complexes, Cutten and Bryan Halls, were completed in 1966 and 1967; the architects were Perkins and Will. The first was named for Colgate’s eighth president and comprised four houses commemorating faculty members active during his term-Albert P. Brigham (geology); Frank L. Shepardson (Greek and University Treasurer); Harold O. Whitnall (Geology) and Melbourne S. Read, (Philosophy, Psychology, Education, Vice President, 1912-21, and President pro tem, 1921-22). The second building perpetuates the memory of Colgate’s seventh president and also consists of four houses named for Dean William H. Crawshaw, ’87; George W. Cobb, ’94, Trustee (1907-45) and donor of the Cobb Awards; William M. Parke, ’00, Trustee (1926-61; President, 1937-48); and Norman F. S. Russell, ’01, Trustee (1928-54; President, 1948-52). The A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Campus Center, designed by Arthur A. Meggett, ’36, and opened in 1967, provided facilities for the

Memorial Chapel (p. 268)

be well-organized appeals in the form of the annual alumni fund.

The early years of the Bryan administration saw renovation and adaptation of four old buildings. Work on the dormitories, West, and East Halls, which Dr. Merrill had planned and to which the growing enrollment of the College gave urgency, was completed-West in 1910 and East, with a Commons for feeding 100 in the basement, a year later. At the termination of Colgate Academy in 1912, its facilities became available for other uses. Administrative offices were moved from the Library to the academy building, henceforth known as the Administration Building, and Taylor Hall, which the Academy fraternities had occupied, was taken over for the post office and the YMCA.

The long recognized need for an infirmary was met in 1913 through the generosity of Mrs. James C. Colgate whose contributions enabled the University to acquire and equip the former Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on East Pleasant Street for this purpose,

Though the College, Seminary, and Academy each had its own chapel, the College chapel had become so crowded by 1915 that only a part of the student body could be accommodated. Plans for a new building were drawn by Harding and Seaver, architects of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and a location chosen which would bring buildings together around the north quadrangle. The donor, Miss Mary Colgate, sister of James C. Colgate, who gave it in memory of their father, James B. Colgate, specified that it should be in the simple New England meeting house style. Construction began in the spring of 1917 and it was first used for the September 1918 convocation. Miss Colgate dedicated the building in June, 1920, and provided an endowment for its maintenance. Its symmetry and simple classical beauty have made a focal point on the Hill ever since.

By the early 1920’s the campus had grown into the park-like tract that its planners and creators, especially the landscape architect Ernest W. Bowditch, and Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, James M. Taylor, had envisioned. The former died in 1918 and Dr. Taylor resigned two years later to be succeeded by Lt. Colonel James Ballantine, who had recently come to Colgate as Director of Military Instruction. Colgate’s buildings and grounds by 1922 had an estimated value of $1,100,000.

Though the size of the faculty had increased from 36 in 1908 to 48 in 1922 these figures are misleading since the first includes ,21 for the

James B. Colgate library (p. 186)

Dean Newton Lloyd Andrews, '62, Bio Files, p186Prof. Lucien M. Osborn, '47, Bio File, p186

 

 

he called “Romanesque-American,” in which he related the solidity and heaviness of the Romanesque to American climate and construction materials. The foundations were stone from local quarries, the walls of blue stone from the Genesee Valley, and the trim of brown stone from East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. The building, which had cost $140,000, was in use by January, 1891, and in June James C. Colgate, acting for his father, formally presented it to the University. It served its original purpose until 1958 when the Everett Needham Case Library superseded it and the Romance Languages Department took occupancy. In 1964 it was remodeled for the administrative offices which had been displaced the year previous when fire destroyed the Administration Building, formerly Colgate Academy.

In 1880, at Dr. Dodge’s request, the Board appointed Professor Newton Lloyd Andrews as Dean of the Faculty to be associated with the President “in the government and discipline of the College.” It is possible that Dodge’s poor health indicated that he have this assistance. Andrews, Professor of Greek since 1868, was an effective teacher and became an outstanding dean. Not only on campus was he helpful to the President but also at various public occasions where he

p. 182 – Administration, Faculty and Instruction in the Dodge Era

41-year old structure, but a dwelling, incorporating some of its thick stone walls, was soon erected and survived until 1924 when the site was taken over for the Huntington Gymnasium.

The Dodge era saw the construction of four new buildings. The first, to house the Preparatory Department, or Grammar School, was completed in 1874. Heretofore, the Grammar School had operated in the same facilities as the College and Seminary in East, West, and Alumni Halls. A gift of James B. Colgate, the new structure was dedicated to the memory of his parents and designated as William Colgate Memorial Hall. In appreciation of Mr. Colgate’s generosity the Trustees in 1873 named the school itself Colgate Academy. The building and site had cost $60,000. With walls of locally manufactured brick, it was three stories high in the center and two on each side, and had a mansard roof. After Colgate Academy was discontinued in 1912 the structure was used as the Administration Building until its destruction by fire in 1963.

The second edifice of the Dodge period is the Chemistry Building. That an entire structure should be devoted to one department, though it housed physics for a few years, showed that the President and Trustees were responding to a strong and growing interest in science. Dr. Dodge, himself, contributed $2,500 to the building fund and three Trustees, Samumel Colgate, Thomson Kingsford, and Col. Morgan L. Smith, made up the balance of the $10,000 which it cost. Joseph F. McGregory, recently appointed as the first Professor of Chemistry, assisted in the planning though he was not to take up his duties until the fall of 18,84. A two-story structure, designed in the “Queen Anne style,” its walls were of local stone trimmed with red brick. There were two large classrooms, one for chemistry and one for physics, on the first floor and a quantitative analysis laboratory on the second. No formal dedication seems to have been held though work in the laboratory had begun by February, 1885. In recognition of Dr. Dodge’s generosity the Junior Class placed over the front entrance a stained glass window showing his portrait and quoting his statement “The amplest knowledge has the largest faith,” a declaration of confidence that Christian doctrine would not suffer at the hands of those who used the building.

Professor Hezekiah Harvey of the Theological Seminary in 1881 strongly urged a building for the exclusive use of that division of the University. Two years later the Education Society vigorously launched