Spooner Hall
Spooner Hall, University of Kansas | |
Location | 14th St. and Oread Ave. on the University of Kansas campus, Lawrence, Kansas |
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Coordinates | 38°57′30″N 95°14′48″W / 38.95833°N 95.24667°WCoordinates: 38°57′30″N 95°14′48″W / 38.95833°N 95.24667°W |
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 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In 1924 Spooner Hall was superseded by a new library.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[]
- ^ 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". National Park Service. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Spooner Hall". Historic Mount Oread Fund. University of Kansas. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ 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
- 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
- University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas
- School buildings completed in 1894
- University of Kansas campus
- Historic American Buildings Survey in Kansas
- Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Kansas
- Library buildings completed in 1894
- National Register of Historic Places in Douglas County, Kansas
- Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas
- Libraries in Kansas
- University and college academic libraries in the United States
- Kansas Registered Historic Place stubs