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University of Wisconsin Science Hall

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Coordinates: 43°4′33″N 89°24′4″W / 43.07583°N 89.40111°W / 43.07583; -89.40111
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University of Wisconsin Science Hall
University of Wisconsin Science Hall is located in Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin Science Hall
University of Wisconsin Science Hall is located in the United States
University of Wisconsin Science Hall
Location550 N. Park St., Madison, Wisconsin
Coordinates43°4′33″N 89°24′4″W / 43.07583°N 89.40111°W / 43.07583; -89.40111
Built1888
ArchitectHenry C. Koch, Allan Conover
Architectural styleRomanesque
Part ofBascom Hill Historic District (ID74000065)
NRHP reference No.93001616
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 4, 1993[1]
Designated NHLNovember 4, 1993[2]

University of Wisconsin Science Hall is a building on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It is significant for its association with Charles R. Van Hise, "who led the Department of Mineralogy and Geology to national prominence" and then served as president of the university.[3] The building was constructed in 1888. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Architecture

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Science Hall is a U-shaped, three story building built in a Romanesque Revival motif. It was designed by Milwaukee architect Henry C. Koch and was later altered during construction by Allan D. Conover, a professor of civil engineering at the school. Rhyolite ashlar provides a bright red exterior. The main facade of the building is 205 feet (62 m) long and overlooks Park Street. It features a five-story tower with a hipped roof. Wings stretch to the west from the north and south. There are four three-story towers on each corner of the wings. A small, three-story round tower is found on each courtyard side of the two wings on the western extremity. Roofs were originally slate, but were replaced with asphalt shingles in 1992. A terra cotta hip roll decorates the towers below the roofs. There are sixteen brick chimneys throughout the building, all featuring a corbelled top.[3]

History

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When completed in 1888, Science Hall was one of three instructional facilities at the University of Wisconsin. It originally hosted courses in geology, geography, physics, zoology, limnology, botany, anatomy, bacteriology, and medicine. The building helped to cement the university as one of the nation's leading geology schools. Science Hall was home to the first American courses in sedimentation, oceanography, and engineering geology. This was due in large part to its leading geologist, Charles R. Van Hise.[3]

Other prominent scientists associated with the building are Van Hise's mentor, geologist Roland Irving, geologist Charles Leith, geologist Eliot Blackwelder, geologist Warren J. Mead, geologist William H. Twenhofel, geographer Arthur H. Robinson, geographer Lawrence Martin, geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, geomorphologist Armin K. Lobeck, geographer Vernor C. Finch, physicist Benjamin W. Snow, physicist Robert W. Wood, physicist Augustus Trowbridge, physicist Charles Mendenhall, physicist Edward Bennet, limnologist Edwin Birge, and anatomist Charles Russell Bardeen. In this building H.L. Russell carried out research that eventually led to the elimination of tuberculosis in U.S. dairy cattle. And from this building physicist Earle M. Terry and his students transmitted the first audio from their pioneering radio transmitter 9XM in 1917.[3]

Images

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  • from the 1893 Blue Book
    from the 1893 Blue Book
  • 2014
    2014
  • Science Hall, December 2009
    Science Hall, December 2009

See also

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Science Hall, University of Wisconsin.

References

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  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "University of Wisconsin Science Hall". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved December 30, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d e Elizabeth L. Miller (September 30, 1992), National Historic Landmark Nomination: Science Hall, National Park Service, retrieved January 16, 2022 With 16 photos.
  4. ^ Clarence W. Olmstead (1987). Science Hall : The First Century. Dept. Of Geography, UW Madison. p. 41.
  5. ^ "The History of Science Hall". The University of Wisconsin Geography Department. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  6. ^ "Chronology of Selected Events in Frank Lloyd Wright's Life". Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  7. ^ "The UW-Madison's Science Hall, in all its red brick glory, is 120 years old this year". Retrieved August 1, 2010.
[edit]
  • Science Hall in The Buildings of the University of Wisconsin
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