Spooner Hall

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Spooner Hall, University of Kansas
Spooner Hall.JPG
Spooner Hall is located in Kansas
Spooner Hall
Location14th St. and Oread Ave. on the University of Kansas campus, Lawrence, Kansas
Coordinates38°57′30″N 95°14′48″W / 38.95833°N 95.24667°W / 38.95833; -95.24667Coordinates: 38°57′30″N 95°14′48″W / 38.95833°N 95.24667°W / 38.95833; -95.24667
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1894 (1894)
ArchitectHenry Van Brunt; John Cox
Architectural styleSouthern Romanesque Revival
NRHP reference No.74000832[1]
Added to NRHPJuly 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 bequeathed 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 is constructed of rough-faced gray Oread Limestone blocks quarried in the immediate vicinity of Mount Oread.[3] Red Dakota sandstone accents the 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In 1924 Spooner Hall was superseded by a new library.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.[4] 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.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Hall, Charles (October 30, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Spooner Hall". National Park Service. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  3. ^ National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: University of Kansas Historic District (PDF), National Park Service, Local craftsmen quarried Oread limestone from the north slope of the ridge for the first generation of buildings.
  4. ^ "Spooner Hall". Historic Mount Oread Fund. University of Kansas. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  5. ^ McCool, John H. "Spooner or Later". KU Memorial Unions. Retrieved 29 January 2014.

External links[]

Media related to Spooner Hall, University of Kansas at Wikimedia Commons


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