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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRoberts Hall (24GA1883)final MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD For the Montana National Register of Historic Places Program and State Antiquities Database Montana State Historic Preservation Office Montana Historical Society PO Box 201202, 1410 8 th Ave Helena, MT 59620-1202 Property Address: Montana State University Campus South Side of Centennial Mall Historic Address (if applicable): SW Corner of 6th Ave. & Garfield St. City/Town: Bozeman Site Number: 24GA1883 (An historic district number may also apply.) County: Gallatin Historic Name: Engineering Building Original Owner(s): Montana State College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts Current Ownership Private Public Current Property Name: Roberts Hall Owner(s): Montana State University - Administration Owner Address: 201 Main Hall / PO Box 172440 Bozeman, MT 59715-2440 Phone: 406-994-2001 Legal Location PM: Montana Township: 2S Range: 5E NW ¼ SE ¼ NE ¼ of Section: 13 Lot(s): Block(s): Addition: Capitol Hill Year of Addition: USGS Quad Name: Bozeman Year: 1987 Historic Use: Classrooms, Laboratories, Lecture Hall, Offices Current Use: Same (College of Engineering) Construction Date: 1922 Estimated Actual Original Location Moved Date Moved: UTM Reference www.nris.mt.gov/topofinder2 NAD 27 or NAD 83(preferred ) Zone: 12 Easting: 496417 Northing: 5057031 National Register of Historic Places NRHP Listing Date: Historic District: Montana State University-Bozeman HD NRHP Eligible: Yes No Date of this document: October 15, 2012 Form Prepared by: Jessie Nunn (Consultant) Address: 600 Meadowlark Lane, Livingston, MT 59047 Daytime Phone: 406-208-9727 MT SHPO USE ONLY Eligible for NRHP: x yes no Criteria: x A B x C D Date: October 2013 Evaluator: K. Hampton Comments: MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 2 Architectural Description Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Architectural Style: Other: If Other, specify: Italian Renaissance Revival Property Type: Education Specific Property Type: Higher Education / Classrooms, Laboratories, Lecture Halls, Offices Architect: Fred W. Wilson / W. R. Plew (Supervising Architect) / R. Church (Superintendent of Construction) Architectural Firm/City/State: Fred W. Wilson / Bozeman, MT Builder/Contractor: See Below Company/City/State: George Swanstrom (General Contractor, Substructure) / Great Falls / MT; Gauger- Korsmo Construction Company (General Contractor, Superstructure) / St. Paul, Minnesota Source of Information: University Archives The Engineering Building (Roberts Hall) is a 190’ x 78’ three and one-half story reinforced concrete structure including a basement and attic. It is designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, and is bilaterally symmetrical around a one story central entrance bay. The building is veneered in polychrome rug face brick with terra cotta detailing. It has a truncated hipped roof constructed of steel and concrete, and is clad in red clay tiles. The foundation is granite. Most windows are eight-over-eight double hung with pink slip sills, and flat arches. A line of soldier course bricks and terra cotta belt course is above the second floor windows. Two-story pilasters rise from the water table to the belt course separate each window. Spandrels between the first and second floor on the north and south elevations are of tan terra cotta with a white blank terra cotta escutcheon in the center, and are framed in pink terra cotta. The north, primary façade has a one story porticoed entrance characterized by three concentric semi-circular arches. Granite steps lead to the entrance. The portico roof is covered in red tiles. The arches are framed in terra cotta, and supported on two free-standing polished granite columns. Stretcher bricks continue the line of the exterior arches to the ground. The tympanums of these arches have three terra cotta medallions with emblems of the three divisions in engineering in gold on a blue background. The western medallion has a measuring instrument for mechanical engineering. The center medallion has a compass, triangle, T-square and arcs for civil engineering. The final medallion has a motor for electrical engineering. Behind the columns is a trabeated construction of granite, carved with panels and rosettes. The interior portico ceiling is groin vaulted, and clad in buff terra cotta finished to appear as tooled stone. Three glass and bronze chandeliers hang from the ceiling. Arches formed at the juncture of the vault and the walls create tympanums, which are embellished with terra cotta seals. The seals alternate with decorations of a stylized flower and a raised, entwined “CE.” The interior walls of the portico are also clad in buff terra cotta, with natural terra cotta detailing. The floor is finished with granite and quarry tile. There are three double oak and glass doors within this arch entrance and a leaded glass transom above. Leaded glass transoms are above the doors. On the north-facing façade, the windows are in sets of two on each floor. Eight pairs on the east/west section of the building flank the entrance on the first and second floor. Three singles are in the center of the third floor, flanked by eight pairs. The wings have three of the usual windows on each floor. Above the terra cotta belt course is a terra cotta sign with the words “COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING” inscribed. It is flanked by two terra cotta panels decorated with a floral design in gold on a blue background. Two iron, five-globe standing lanterns remain in front of the north elevation. They are detailed with fluting and garlands and stand on plinths which have lion’s heads on each corner. The west and east elevations are nearly identical, and have the same motifs as on the north façade. The sides are simpler, however, and do not include the second floor terra cotta spandrels. Six pilasters separate seven windows on each floor. A central doorway on the ground floor of the west elevation has a modern door with glass pane. The original metal canopy suspended by chains has been removed, and replaced with a flat canopy and metal posts. There is no door on the east elevation. Two of the floral terra cotta panels are at each corner below the eaves. Most the rear, south elevation of Engineering Hall has been obscured by a modern annex to Cobleigh Hall. The fenestration and detailing of the shallow bays at the ends are exactly the same as the wings on the north façade. The interior features an imposing split level staircase of pink granite with solid granite railings accented with large scrolls at the base. It leads to an open stairwell with a curved metal staircase with pink granite treads and a metal bannister with oak railing. A skylight with multiple stained glass panes lights stairway. Roberts retains most of its wood and Florentine glass doors. At the juncture between law and ceiling, first floor, are cast consoles with floral decorations. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 3 History of Property Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 HISTORY OF PROPERTY Introduction Like the other seven buildings constructed between 1919 and 1925, the Engineering Building was a response to the need for increased classroom, laboratory and office space for the growing college departments. Prior to the building’s completion, the Engineering Department was located in a collection of one-story frame buildings directly south of Montana Hall. The desire for spacious new facilities was apparent as early as 1911. The college newspaper reported that year that plans had been drawn up for a classically detailed $80,000 engineering building, which had been approved by the State Legislature’s lower house. It was intended to be sited west of the new Agriculture Building (Linfield Hall). However, plans fell through, and it was not until 1920 that the Legislature appropriated funds for the construction of a new engineering building. According to historian Merrill Burlingame, with enrollment projected to rise significantly following World War I, Chancellor Edward Elliot urged the State to pass a special property tax of 2½ mills to be used in support of higher education. A bond issue for $5 million for new buildings was also initiated. Both measures were heartily passed, and the University was finally able to proceed with construction that would transform the campus and college. Five new Italian Renaissance Revival Style academic buildings and the Heating Plant were constructed between 1919 and 1922, followed in 1925 by Herrick Hall. (Burlingame, 70-71). Also slated to transform the campus in the period following World War I, was a comprehensive landscaping plan developed by prominent New York Landscape architect, Cass Gilbert. In 1917 the State Board of Education contracted Gilbert to plan building programs for all four of Montana’s institutions of higher learning. Gilbert’s plan re-orientated the campus, creating a classical axial arrangement which retained Montana Hall (Main Hall) as the center of campus, but expanded the property to the south. Engineering Hall, along with the 1920 Chemistry Building (Traphagen Hall), the 1922 Romney Gymnasium and the 1922 Engineering Shops (Ryon Labs) created a second assembly of buildings encircling a broad grassy open space. The construction activity at the Bozeman campus echoed strong building activity statewide following World War I. So busy were the brick yards and the demand for masons so high that construction on the new Heating Plant, Lewis Hall and the Gymnasium was delayed by continuing efforts to secure supplies and labor. Only the Engineering Building escaped this problem. ( The Exponent , 26 Sept. 1922, 1) Fred F. Willson, Architect The college contracted with Bozeman architect Fred F. Willson to design the new Engineering Building. Born in 1877, he was the only son of General L. S. Willson, Civil War veteran, territorial legislator and Bozeman pioneer. After attending the Bozeman Academy, Willson completed his junior year at Montana State College then enrolled at Columbia University. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1902. Willson returned to Montana, where he spent two years in the Helena office of prominent architect, Charles S. Haire. Next, he went to Europe, where he studying at the Ecole des Beau Arts and traveled, before returning to the United States in 1906. Willson briefly lived in New York City, where he was associated with architects Theodore C. Visscher and James Burley. Later that year, Willson returned to Montana to oversee the Butte office of his mentor, who now headed the firm of Link & Haire. Willson returned permanently to Bozeman in 1910 and opened his own office in the Commercial National Bank Building. He designed and built his own residence at 509 Tracy Avenue in 1914. Willson designed numerous buildings in the Bozeman area and across Montana, and was competent in a number of architectural styles including Craftsman, Mission and Renaissance Revival, Jacobethan and International. In addition to Engineering Hall, his designs on campus include Hamilton Hall, the Engineering Shops (Ryon Labs) and its addition, the Heating Plant, the Chemistry Building (Traphagen Hall), Herrick Hall, the original section of the 1939-1940 Strand Union Building and the 1935 Quadrangle. His design of Bozeman’s Jacobethan Emerson Schoool won praise from educational groups across the United States. Willson also expanded his business interests into areas other than architecture. He owned 640 acres in the Powder River area, was president of the Bozeman Investment Company and a director and stockholder of the Willson Company, the latter of which was established by his father in the 1870s. (Stout, 319-320) Engineering Hall The College experienced much difficulty in getting started on the Engineering Building, opening the project of bids in 1919 only to have them rejected by the State Board of examiners due to the “financial situation of the State,” which found its general fund some $1.25 million in the red in red with, “no immediate prospect for an improvement,” in sight. After another round of rejected bids in 1920, the College finally let contracts for the Engineering Hall and Engineering Shops in January MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 4 History of Property Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 of 1922. The projects were separated in order to speed construction and provide a psychological booster to incoming students in the fall of 1922. George Swanstom of Great Falls, Montana was awarded the contract for the excavating and footings. Shortly after work began, a problem with high ground water delayed further efforts. Soil described as “a sort of quicksand,” created the need for a revision in foundation plans by extending the footings to a lower strata of gravel, and added another $2,000 in expenditures. ( The Exponent , 24 Sept. 1925, 1) The subsequent work required the letting of the contract for the superstructure. In order to allow the second phase to proceed, the Gauger-Korsomo Construction Company of St. Paul, Minnesota agreed to finish Swanstrom’s work. Supervising Architect W. R. Plew was uncompromising in his vision for the Engineering Building and was not always pleased with the workmanship or professionalism of Gauger-Korsomo, concluding in one report “I regret to say that the Contractor has shown a disposition to deal in sharp practice and has endeavored to incur any extra wherever possible.” (PA6.2 / Buildings-costs Folder 1). Plew struggled with the contractor over costs, product quality and occasionally the smallest of details. In an August 7, 1922 letter, for instance, Plew informs Gauger-Kormo that the window frames they ordered from Minneapolis mill company, Aaron Carlson Inc., “look rather cheap and poor,” causing him to express his doubts about the contractors and pleading for more care in the future: I am considerably disappointed on the start you are making on the carpenter and mill work. If this beginning is to be continued thru out the job we are going to have no end of trouble because we cannot tolerate this kind of work. I trust that you will impress upon your jobbers the necessity of using more care than was exercised in these frames. You will save money by having this work right to begin with because it cannot go into the building unless it is right. Plew’s struggles continued through the Engineering Hall’s completion. When asked for a second tome to accept granite columns three-fourths of an inch less in diameters then specified for the building’s imposing entrance, Plew responded “I am still not willing to allow this change…my decision is based on a policy laid down from the beginning, that is that I am not willing to compromise the building in any way.” Ultimately, however, Plew’s steadfastness—when coupled with Willson’s design—paid handsomely, resulting in one of the College’s best-articulated architectural works. Enthusiasm for the building was apparent in contemporary University publications. The floor plan was detailed in the 29 th Annual Catalogue, which showed the ground and first floors would be used by the civil and mechanical engineering departments, the second by electrical engineering department and the attic floor for the architectural and engineering departments. Libraries for the various departments were to be located in the attic and second floors. A lecture hall with a slanted floor capable of seating over 200 students was slated for the east end of the building. (20-21; Exponent , 26 Sept. 1922, 1) The Weekly Exponent also regularly updated the College community on the progress of the Engineering Building. In the fall of 1922, for example, the Exponent could report that the reinforced concrete superstructure was nearly complete, the brick cladding reached as far as the roof on the west elevation, tile partitions had been inserted on the first floor, and the electrical and plumbing systems were nearly complete. (26 Sept. 1922, 1) Miscellaneous Notes The building was renamed Roberts Hall in honor of W. Milnor Roberts (1810-1881), chief engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad who was responsible for surveying it’s route across Montana in the 1870s. The Engineering Shops, later renamed Ryon Labs, were also designed by Fred F. Willson and were constructed simultaneously. This building was demolished in the mid-1990s to make was for the ESP building. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 5 Information Sources/Bibliography Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 INFORMATION SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Building Master List. Physical Plant Records, Montana State University. Burlingame, Merrill. A History: Montana State University, Boeman Montana. Bozeman, MT: Office of Information Publication, Feburary 1968. “Engineering Hall Practically Certain,” The Weekly Exponent , 3 February 1911. Folder A6.1/Buildings, History of.” Montana State Unversity Archives. Folder 4, PA6.2/Building-cost.” Montana State University Archives. Freeman, Cortland L. “The Growing Up Years—The First 100 Years of Bozeman as and Incorporated City From 1883 to 1983,” Bozeman, MT: Gallatin County Historical Society, December 1988. “Location Listings, Construction Files, Specifications, Blueprints, O/M’s [Master List],” Montana State University Facilities, c. 1900 – 2004. Nepper, Carl J. 1939 Building Appriasal. “New Campus is Now Assuming Form,” The Weekly Exponent , 26 Septebmer 1922. “The News Notes,” 22 April 1922. Montana State University Archives. Plew, W. R., “Correspondence” in File “22-0008 Roberts” Unversity Archives, Montana State University Facilities. Photos: PA6.1.RH/Roberts Hall, Folder 7; PA6.1.RH/Folder 10, nos. 16, 22, 23, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34. Montana State University Archives. Photos: Miscllaneous Historic Photo Files, Unversity Archives, Montana State Unviersity Facilities. “Start Excavations on New Women’s Building,” The Weekly Exponent , 24 September 1925. Stout, Tom. Montana: Its Story and Biography . Vol. 2, Chicago: The American Historical Society, 1921. University of Montana Bulletin, Montana State College. “29 th Annual Catalogue 1921-1922,” no. 22. Great Falls, MT: The Tribune Printing Co., 1922. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 6 Statement of Significance Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NRHP Listing Date: NA NRHP Eligibility: Yes No Individually Contributing to Historic District Noncontributing to Historic District NRHP Criteria: A B C D Area of Significance: Education, Architecture Period of Significance: 1922 - 1964 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Engineering Building (Roberts Hall) is a contributing building to the potential Montana State University Historic District, which is eligible for listing in the National Register under Criteria A and C. It is significant for its associations with the growth of the University and its second period of construction, as well its role in the education of students and the distribution of engineering knowledge across Montana. Under Criteron C, Engineering Hall is significant as a well- executed example of the Italian Renaissance Revival style and as an example of the work of local master architect, Fred F. Willson. The Engineering Department has enjoyed a traditional place of importance at Montana State University, because of its status as a land-grant institution, and has undergone continued growth since its creation in 1893, expanding from 5 students that year to 284 by the time this building was constructed. Only one year after the founding of Montana State, more staff time was given to engineering than any other curriculum. But the department suffered from a chronic lack of space in the early years of the college’s existence. The college’s first year, which was spent in rented buildings and high school classrooms, was described over 60 years later by former student, Thomas H. McKee, as: only an idea, a disembodied one, without house to dwell in, without teacher or student, and worst of all, without a dollar. To get its ensuing appropriations it had to be a going concern. It needed money to get started and couldn’t get money until it did start. (Burlingame, 12) The appropriation of 200 acres and some small farm buildings south of town on “a low hill, [and] a slightly place,” was the result of contributions by Bozeman citizens. One year later, the college boasted a large brick structure that commanded a view of the entire valley. (Burlingame, 19, 30) The resultant first major period of construction (1894-1919) resulted in five brick buildings at the top of the low hill south of Bozeman. It was a good start to a 20-year old school, but larger things would follow. Built in 1922-1923, the Engineering Building was part of the College’s greatest, and most stylistically-consistent, construction period from 1919-1925. The design and construction of six Italian Renaissance Revival style buildings was possible due to the appropriation of large sums of money for the expansion of the Montana University System. The Engineering Building was also part of a concentrated effort by the State Board of Education and the College to project an appearance of stability within an intellectually nurturing environment. It complimented landscape architect Cass Gilbert’s classical plan, and was appropriate to the academic institution. The Renaissance Revival style evoked images of the 16 th Century intellectual rebirth and optimism in mankind’s future. The result was an ordered, refined campus in keeping with the College’s status as one of the State’s leading academic institutions. While only partially complete, the college proudly predicted that the Engineering Building would be one of the finest engineering buildings in the Northwest. (29 th Annual Catalogue, 21) The school newspaper went even further to say that it would be complete in every detail, “and it design will represent the most modern type of construction.” ( The Exponent , 26 Sept. 1) In fact, Engineering Hall was a balance between tradition and modernity, with a classical façade enveloping the latest construction techniques and equipment. Fred F. Willson was Bozeman’s most successful architect in the early and mid-20 th century. Willson is responsible for nearly every significant structure in Bozeman’s Main Street business district as well as over 40 residences. The appearance of Montana State University is also based to a large extent on Willson. Nearly all of the buildings on campus constructed between 1910 and 1940, as well as some later buildings, were designed by Willson. The architect’s work was described by a contemporary in the 1920s as “noted for originality of design…tempered by the broad and thorough MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 7 Statement of Significance Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 knowledge he has of architecture as exemplified in the best creations of all the centuries and in the greatest centers of art in the civilized world.” (Stout, 320) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 8 Integrity Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 INTEGRITY (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, association) Roberts Hall is in good condition, and unlike many of the historic buildings on campus, has retained much of its historical appearance and detailing on both the exterior and interior. It has been fortunate to escape the extensive interior alterations that have impacted the integrity of most other historic buildings within the proposed Montana State University Historic District. With the exception of the removal of lamps on the west entrance and their replacement with a metal canopy, little of the exterior has been altered. It retains its brick and tile cladding, granite column entrance and red tile roof. The building also retains much of its integrity of setting with open space and landscaped parking to the north in accordance with Gilbert’s plan, open space to the west and Greek housing to across 6th Avenue. Only the rear elevation of the building has been altered with the construction of Cobleigh Hall—attached to Roberts Hall through a non-descript annex—and the loss of the associated Ryon Labs further south. With its excellent integrity and well-executed design, Roberts Hall is able to best display the character-defining features of the Renaissance Revival Style on campus and, along with a handful of other buildings, Cass Gibert’s classical campus design. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 9 Photographs Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 Engineering Building (Roberts Hall) Montana State University Main Entrance on North Façade, Facing: S Jessie Nunn, October 6, 2012 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 10 Photographs Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 Engineering Building (Roberts Hall) Montana State University West Elevation, Facing: SE Jessie Nunn, October 6, 2012 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 11 Photographs Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 Engineering Building (Roberts Hall) West End of South (Rear) Elevation showing junction with Cobleigh Hall, Facing: NE Montana State University Jessie Nunn, October 6, 2012 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 12 Photographs Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 Engineering Building (Roberts Hall) North Façade, Facing: SW Montana State University Jessie Nunn, October 6, 2012 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 13 Photographs Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 Engineering Building (Roberts Hall) East end of South (Rear) Elevation & East Elevation, Facing: NW Montana State University Jessie Nunn, October 6, 2012 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 14 Photographs Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 Engineering Building (Roberts Hall) During Construction, c. 1922. (Miscellaneous Historic Photo Files, University Archives, Montana State University Facilities). Engineering Building (Roberts Hall), undated. (Miscellaneous Historic Photo Files, University Archives, MSU-Facilities). MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 15 Site Map Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 16 Topographic Map Property Name: Roberts Hall Site Number: 24GA1883