Spooner Hall
Spooner Hall, University of Kansas | |
Location | 14th St. and Oread Ave. on the University of Kansas campus, Lawrence, Kansas |
---|---|
Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
Built | 1894 |
Architect | Henry Van Brunt; John Cox |
Architectural style | Southern Romanesque Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 74000832[1] |
Added to NRHP | July 15, 1974 |
Spooner Hall was built in 1893-94 as the University of Kansas' first library building. The Richardsonian Romanesque structure was designed by architect Henry Van Brunt and built with funds bequathed by William B. Spooner, a Massachusetts leather merchant who had a family connection to the university. As originally built, the building housed a reading room on the ground floor and meeting space on the upper level, with book stacks in a five story section.[2]
Spooner Hall was constructed of rough-faced gray limestone blocks quarried in the immediate vicinity. A red Dakota sandstone accents quoins, columns, beltlines and sills. The roof is a steeply pitched gable with clay tile roof covering, accented by a sculpted owl on the peak of the western gable. The original interior was completely modified for use as an art gallery.[2]
In 1924 Spooner Hall was superseded by a new library. In 1926 the building became the Spooner-Thayer Museum of Art. Later renamed the University of Kansas Museum of Art, the collection moved into the Spencer Museum of Art in 1978.[3] It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 15, 1974.[1] The building presently houses anthropology collections and acts as a conference center.[4]
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b Hall, Charles (October 30, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Spooner Hall" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ "Spooner Hall". Historic Mount Oread Fund. Kansas University. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ McCool, John H. "Spooner or Later". KU Memorial Unions. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
External links
- Spooner Hall at the Historic Mount Oread Fund
- "Spooner or Later" at KU History
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. KS-65-A, "Spooner Hall, Fourteenth Street & Jayhawk Road, Lawrence, Douglas County, KS", 10 photos, 14 measured drawings, 1 photo caption page
- School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas
- School buildings completed in 1894
- Buildings and structures in Douglas County, Kansas
- Historic American Buildings Survey in Kansas
- Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Kansas
- Library buildings completed in 1894
- University of Kansas
- Kansas Registered Historic Place stubs