The English Building , previously known as the Woman's Building and Bevier Hall , is a historic structure on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign . It is located on the west side of the Main Quad between Lincoln Hall and the Henry Administration Building. The original portion of the English Building, designed by McKim, Mead & White , was completed in 1905 and subsequently expanded in 1913 and 1924. The distinctive columned front, which faces the Main Quad, dates to the 1913 addition. Since 1956, the English Building has been home to the university's Department of English.
30-668: The English Building, originally known as the Woman's Building, was dedicated on October 16, 1905. The dedication doubled as the installation ceremony for incoming University of Illinois president Edmund Janes James . The original portion of the building, with a central mass along Wright Street and two side wings, was designed in the Georgian Revival style by prominent architectural firm McKim, Mead & White . The firm had previously designed academic buildings at institutions including Columbia University , University of Virginia , and
60-614: A Seth Thomas clock mechanism that allows the chime to play the Westminster chime to mark the hours and the quarters. The mechanism does not currently operate. A small playing chamber is inside the tower containing a wooden chimestand with fifteen pump handles that control the clappers inside the bells via steel wires. Each lever is marked with a musical note, which form an almost complete chromatic scale , ranging from low D to high G while missing low D-sharp and both F-naturals. This configuration of bells were cast such that it can play
90-542: A Heritage Award from the Preservation and Conservation Association of Champaign Country (PACA) for its work on the project. According to campus legend, the English Building is haunted by the ghost of a female student who drowned in the building's pool. Students using the building have reported mysterious phenomena such as doors opening or closing on their own, loudly-creaking floors, and the faint voice of
120-530: A brief appearance in the 1945 film The House on 92nd Street , posing as Ohio State University . The Altgeld Chimes were installed and dedicated on October 30, 1920. Atop the 132-foot tower are fifteen bells, weighing a total of seven and a half tons, cast by McShane Bell Foundry . The university's chime was a gift from the graduating classes of 1914—1921 and the United States School of Military Aeronautics . The senior class of 1922 purchased
150-569: A decade later, the department moved to a new Bevier Hall on the east side of campus. After the Department of English moved into the former Woman's Building in 1956, the structure was given its current name: the English Building. The English Building's slate roof was replaced with identical materials in 2019. At the same time, the cupola and entablature were repaired, attic insulation was installed, and certain windows and chimneys were replaced. The contracted architectural firm, Bailey Edward, won
180-712: A key part of the campus's visual identity. Edmund Janes James Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 188550321 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:35:41 GMT Altgeld Hall 40°6′34″N 88°13′42″W / 40.10944°N 88.22833°W / 40.10944; -88.22833 Altgeld Hall , located at 1409 West Green Street in Urbana, Illinois on
210-406: A pool and locker rooms on the first floor; the second floor was a gymnasium with a balcony over its south end. The Woman's Building was intended to be a "safe space" for women at the university; men were not initially allowed inside, although this policy gradually loosened. Contrary to popular belief, the building never served as a residence hall . The first campus residence hall for female students
240-425: A woman sounding from nowhere. In the decades after the university's establishment in 1868, its academic core developed haphazardly along Green Street. When Altgeld Hall was completed in 1897, it filled in the last available space on the street's south side. With nowhere to build the new Agriculture Building (now Davenport Hall), university president Andrew S. Draper suggested a site to the south, facing west. After
270-622: The University Heights campus of New York University . Originally, the north wing of the Woman's Building was home to the Household Science Department (later called the Department of Home Economics). The north wing included classrooms, test kitchens, and a chemical laboratory. The south wing was primarily social spaces for female students, along with offices for the Dean of Women. The building's central mass had
300-708: The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) campus , was built in 1896–97 and was designed by Nathan Ricker and James M. White of the university's architecture department in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. Planning for the building began during the Illinois governorship of John Peter Altgeld . The building was originally the University Library, and received major additions in 1914, 1919, 1926, and 1956. From 1927 to 1955 it
330-440: The 1950s, a fake office for the pseudonymous mathematical collective Nicolas Bourbaki was constructed in a third-floor room near the building's elevator shaft, complete with a quill pen, candle, and sign labeled "N. Bourbaki". Despite being removed by the university due to fire safety concerns, the office remained an urban legend over the next several decades, with students and professors replacing its sign and sharing rumors in what
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#1732772141731360-653: The Agriculture Building was completed in 1899, Noyes Laboratory of Chemistry was built between it and the Natural History Building . Both new edifices fronted a large lawn, which was divided into a west portion and an east portion by Burrill Avenue. The English Building was the first structure built on the west side of Burrill Street south of the Green Street cluster; it was the last building placed without regard to any formal plan for
390-600: The Bolles entry and all the other entries submitted. Based on a suggestion made by Governor Altgeld, the building committee offered the commission to Daniel Burnham , fresh from his success as the organizing architect of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Artistic conflicts between Burnham and the Governor soon became clear, and the relationship was severed. After two years of looking for an acceptable design,
420-645: The College of Engineering. At dedication on June 8, 1897, the building was designed as the University Library. In 1927, the School of Law moved in and occupied the building until 1955; an inscription at the north entrance of the building still says Law Building . Since 1955 the Department of Mathematics and the Mathematics Library have occupied the building . In 1941, the building was officially named Altgeld Hall after Governor Altgeld. The building made
450-561: The Naval Training School for Signalmen and the Navy's Diesel Engine Operator's School. At that time, the Woman's Building was occupied primarily by the Department of Home Economics. To move the entire Department of Physical Education for Women back into the Woman's Building (which still had a pool and gymnasium), parts of the Department of Home Economics were relocated to the former Davenport House on Wright Street. During this era,
480-513: The Woman's Building; since 1919, it has served as the Chi Omega sorority house. The Woman's Building was expanded in 1913 to designs by W. C. Zimmerman. A group of university women helmed by Nora Dunlap (wife of Henry M. Dunlap ) successfully lobbied the state for the project's funding. The 1913 addition included the three-story Neoclassical colonnade that faces the Main Quad. In 1924,
510-456: The building committee called upon the university's own architecture department. On February 4, 1896, Professors Nathan Ricker and James McLaren White completed the design plans that included construction costs in less than a month. Altgeld Hall was one of five Illinois university buildings, the so-called " Altgeld's castles ", in whose designs the governor took a personal interest. Construction started on June 10, 1896, only four months after
540-428: The building started in 1892, with Governor John Peter Altgeld and University President Andrew Sloan Draper involved in the design of the building. Initially, the trustees announced a design contest that would award $ 1200 to the best design. The trustees awarded the prize to Edward G. Bolles, a young man with no experience in building design, but after the building committee met with the young man, they decided to reject
570-412: The building was again expanded, this time to designs by university professor James M. White . White had been the construction supervisor for the original portion of the building. The Department of Physical Education for Women began in the Woman's Building, but it had moved to other campus locations prior to World War II . However, in 1942, the department was displaced from its existing facilities by
600-459: The day during the last ten minutes of the hour. It is tradition to play the university's alma mater , " Hail to the Orange ," during every concert. The concerts have been a tradition since 1920 when the university chime was installed. Throughout the history of Altgeld Hall, students have circulated various urban legends about the building's contents, due in part to its labyrinthine floor plan. In
630-681: The first building on the west side of this new Main Quad; it was joined by Lincoln Hall in 1911 and the Henry Administration Building in 1912. The university later replaced Burrill Avenue with the sidewalk that runs along the English Building's east side. The 1905 portion of the English Building, as designed by McKim, Mead, and White, was the first Georgian Revival structure on the University of Illinois campus. (The original facade has been covered by later additions, although
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#1732772141731660-514: The future development of the campus. After Edmund Janes James was installed as university president in 1905, a planning commission approved a campus growth proposal created by Clarence H. Blackall and landscape architect John Olmsted . This master plan, which was strongly influenced by the formal ideals of the City Beautiful movement , called for a large quadrangle terminating at an auditorium at its south end. The English Building became
690-442: The initial building design was submitted by Ricker and White. The cornerstone, which included a time capsule , was set on September 11, 1896. Ricker and White supervised the construction of the building which was completed on December 1, 1897. The exterior features the only gargoyle on campus, while the interior features four murals painted around the domed ceiling of what is now the Mathematics Library. Newton Alonzo Wells painted
720-487: The murals at the recommendation of the architects. The four murals were dedicated to the four colleges at the university in 1897. The south mural is "The Sacred Wood of the Muses" dedicated to the College of Literature and Arts. The north mural is "Arcadia" dedicated to the College of Agriculture. The west mural is "The Laboratory of Minerva" dedicated to the College of Science. The east mural is "The Forge of Vulcan" dedicated to
750-433: The pool in the Woman's Building was reserved for the training of Navy and Army trainees six mornings per week; female students could only swim in the pool during afternoons and evenings. The Woman's Building was renamed Bevier Hall in 1947 to honor Isabel Bevier , a longtime member of the university faculty. Bevier, who was a pioneer in the home economics field, led the Department of Home Economics from 1901 to 1921. However,
780-419: The rear is still visible from Wright Street.) Georgian Revival styling is evident in the building's red brick exterior, massive chimneys, dormer windows, and horizontal lines. The University of Illinois would go on to interview McKim, Mead, and White about consulting on the campus master plan, but ultimately, Charles A. Platt was hired instead. Platt chose the Georgian Revival style for the designs he created for
810-460: The university fight song “ Illinois Loyalty ” in the key of D-major. For this reason, songs must often be transposed to keys where F-naturals are not present. Official concerts are performed every weekday classes are in session from 12:50 to 1:00 PM. Concerts are performed during special occasions, such as Homecoming Weekend, the University of Illinois Founders Day, and Commencement evening. In addition, informal concerts are held randomly throughout
840-614: The university, leading to a glut of Georgian Revival construction on the University of Illinois campus throughout the 1920s. Many of the buildings Platt designed are still in use today, including the Main Library , Louise Freer Hall , Huff Hall , and the Busey–Evans Residence Halls . Because buildings from the following decades (such as the Illini Union ) continued to reference the style, Georgian Revival has become
870-462: Was Busey Hall , which was completed in 1917. Before Busey Hall, female students typically lived in sorority houses, boarding houses, or private homes. Religious groups stepped in to fill the housing shortage as early as 1909, when the Episcopalians built a church-affiliated residence hall that could house thirty women. This facility, known as Osborne Hall, was located across Wright Street from
900-532: Was used by the College of Law, and from 1955 on by the Department of Mathematics and the Mathematics Library. The University Chime in the bell tower – which marks the hours, half hours, and quarter hours and plays a ten-minute concert every school day from 12:50–1:00 p.m. – was installed in 1920. The building was officially named "Altgeld Hall" in 1941. Altgeld Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970. Planning for
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