Matthews Hall (Tempe, Arizona)

Last updated
Matthews Hall
Matthews Hall (Tempe, Arizona).jpg
The north elevation of Matthews Hall
USA Arizona location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location925 S. Forest Mall, Tempe, Arizona
Coordinates 33°25′12″N111°56′7″W / 33.42000°N 111.93528°W / 33.42000; -111.93528 Coordinates: 33°25′12″N111°56′7″W / 33.42000°N 111.93528°W / 33.42000; -111.93528
Arealess than one acre
Built1918 (1918)
Architect L.G. Knipe
Architectural style Prairie School
MPS Tempe MRA
NRHP reference # 85000053 [1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 11, 1985

Matthews Hall is a building on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University. Built in 1918, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Arizona State University Public university located in the Phoenix metropolitan area, Arizona, United States

Arizona State University is a public metropolitan research university on five campuses across the Phoenix metropolitan area, and four regional learning centers throughout Arizona.

National Register of Historic Places Federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred in preserving the property.

Contents

History

Matthews Hall is the oldest intact dormitory on the ASU campus. [2] It was designed by L.G. Knipe and dedicated in 1920 as a men's dormitory. It was named for the president of the Tempe Normal School, Dr. Arthur John Matthews.

By 1930, it was a women's dormitory, [3] and when the new library on campus was named the Matthews Library in honor of Dr. Matthews's 30 years as president, the dormitory was renamed Carrie Matthews Hall for the president's wife. (The library became known as Matthews Center upon its conversion in the 1960s.)

The building currently houses a photography gallery and offices for the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. It is also home to the ASU Forensics (Speech & Debate) team.

The Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona was created in 2009 by the merger of two existing academic units, the Katherine K. Herberger College of the Arts and the College of Design. The Arizona Board of Regents approved the merger on April 30, 2009. The Herberger Institute comprises five schools: the School of Art; the School of Arts, Media and Engineering; The Design School; the School of Film, Dance and Theatre; and the School of Music. It also houses the ASU Art Museum.

Architecture

Matthews Hall is a symmetrical, elongated two-story building with telescoping side wings and sleeping porch bays. The building has a concrete foundation with buff brick facing; the interiors feature wood detailing.

The building has extensive Prairie School architectural styling, seen in the building's massing and details, such as broad wooden cornices, Union Jack vent covers, and grouped double-hung windows. The original stairway and living room fireplace remain in the interior.

Prairie School architectural style

Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands, integration with the landscape, solid construction, craftsmanship, and discipline in the use of ornament. Horizontal lines were thought to evoke and relate to the wide, flat, treeless expanses of America's native prairie landscape.

The building also demonstrates an attempt to acclimate the building to the Arizona climate. Sleeping spaces project out from the main building to capture nighttime breezes.

Some modifications have been made; the sleeping porches have been converted to offices, while modern exit stairs have been added and windows were filled in. [4]

Related Research Articles

Harvard Yard United States national historic site

Harvard Yard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the oldest part of the Harvard University campus, its historic center and modern crossroads. It contains most of the freshman dormitories, Harvard's most important libraries, Memorial Church, several classroom and departmental buildings, and the offices of senior University officials including the President of Harvard University.

Arizona State University at the West Campus is one of five university campuses that compose Arizona State University (ASU). The West campus was established by the Arizona Legislature in 1984, and is located in northwest Phoenix, bordering the city of Glendale.

Marycrest College Historic District United States national historic site

Marycrest College Historic District is located on a bluff overlooking the West End of Davenport, Iowa, United States. The district encompasses the campus of Marycrest College, which was a small, private collegiate institution. The school became Teikyo Marycrest University and finally Marycrest International University after affiliating with a private educational consortium during the 1990s. The school closed in 2002 because of financial shortcomings. The campus has been listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties and on the National Register of Historic Places since 2004. At the time of its nomination, the historic district consisted of 13 resources, including six contributing buildings and five non-contributing buildings. Two of the buildings were already individually listed on the National Register.

The State Press is the independent, student-operated news publication of Arizona State University. In August 2014, it became an all-digital publication. It published a free newspaper every weekday until January 2013, at which point its print distribution was reduced to once per week. The editorial board announced that ASU Student Media will begin to focus on "a host of new digital products and special print products."

Old Main (Bethany College) United States national historic site

Old Main, Bethany College is a historic building group on the Bethany College campus in Bethany, West Virginia.

Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University is a program that provides over 5,400 students with a residential experience that is similar to that which one might find at a smaller college or university, while still giving access to the resources of a major research institution. The administration offices for the college are located in Sage Hall in the Barrett Honors Complex, on ASU's Tempe campus, but classes are available at all of the ASU campuses in Arizona.

North Hall (University of Wisconsin) United States national historic site

North Hall, University of Wisconsin was the first structure on the University of Wisconsin campus. Located on Bascom Hill, it was built in 1851 at a cost of $19,000. John Muir resided in North Hall when he was a student at the University from 1860 to 1863. It currently houses the offices of the political science faculty at the university. Muir knoll, across the street, was home to the first American university ski tournament in 1920.

Wyoming State Hospital United States national historic site

The Wyoming State Hospital, once known as the Wyoming State Insane Asylum, is located in Evanston, Wyoming, United States. The historic district occupies the oldest portion of the grounds and includes fifteen contributing buildings, including the main administrative building, staff and patient dormitories, staff apartments and houses, a cafeteria and other buildings, many of which were designed by Cheyenne, Wyoming architect William Dubois. Established in 1887, the historic buildings span the period 1907-1948. At one point it was common for new hall additions to be named after the counties in Wyoming. The recent addition of Aspen, Cottonwood, and Evergreen halls do not follow this trend.

Goodwin Stadium was a stadium in Tempe, Arizona. It hosted the Arizona State University Sun Devils football team until they moved to Sun Devil Stadium in 1958, as well as the team for local Tempe High School until 1969. The stadium held 15,000 people at its peak and was opened in 1936. The first football game played was on Friday, October 3, 1936, when the Arizona State Teacher's College Bulldogs defeated California Institute of Technology 26-0. The last football game played was on September 20, 1958, when ASU beat Hawaii 47-6 in front of 19,000 fans.

McMillan Hall United States national historic site

McMillan Hall is a building on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, United States. Built in 1793, it is the only surviving building from Washington Academy. It is the eighth-oldest academic building in the United States that is still in use for its original academic purpose and is the oldest surviving college building west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Arizona State University Tempe campus is a campus of Arizona State University, a public research university with its main campus in Phoenix, Arizona. It is the largest of the four campuses that comprise the university. The campus lies in the heart of Tempe, Arizona, about eight miles (13 km) east of downtown Phoenix. The campus is considered urban, and is approximately 642 acres (2.6 km2) in size. ASU's Tempe campus is arranged around broad pedestrian malls and is completely encompassed by an arboretum. ASU has an extensive public art collection, considered one of the ten best among university public art collections in the United States. Against the northwest edge of campus is the Mill Avenue district which has a college atmosphere that attracts many students to its restaurants and bars. ASU's Tempe Campus is also home to all of the university's athletic facilities.

Clinton Campbell

Clinton Campbell (1865-1937) was a "locally prominent builder" who worked in Phoenix, Arizona. Several of his works both survive and are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Campbell died in 1937 and was buried in Phoenix's Greenwood/Memory Lawn Mortuary & Cemetery.

Arizona State University Art Museum art museum in Tempe, Arizona

The Arizona State University Art Museum is an art museum operated by Arizona State University, located on its main campus in Tempe, Arizona. The Art Museum has some 12,000 objects in its permanent collection and describes its primary focuses as contemporary art, including new media and "innovative methods of presentation"; crafts, with an emphasis on American ceramics; historic and contemporary prints; art from Arizona and the Southwestern United States, with an emphasis on Latino artists, and art of the Americas, with one historic American pieces and modernist and contemporary Latin American works.

Kemper Goodwin NRHP-listed Arizona architect

Kemper Goodwin was a noted architect from Tempe, Arizona. He specialized in educational buildings. Some of his buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona.

Drake University Campus Historic District United States national historic site

The Drake University Campus Historic District is located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The historic district contains six buildings. Five of the buildings are collegiate buildings on the Drake University campus and one is a church. The period of significance is from when the university was founded in 1881 to the end of the presidency of Hill M. Bell in 1918. The historic district has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988. It is part of the Drake University and Related Properties in Des Moines, Iowa, 1881—1918 MPS.

B. B. Moeur Activity Building Historic building on the ASU campus in Tempe, Arizona

The B. B. Moeur Activity Building is a structure on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Constructed from 1936 to 1939 by the Works Progress Administration, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in September 1985, ahead of the typical 50-year requirement for National Register sites, for "exceptional" architectural and historical merit. It is the largest WPA-built adobe building in the state.

Presidents House (Tempe, Arizona) United States national historic site

The President's House is a building on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University. It was built in 1907 to serve as the lodgings for the president of what was then known as the Tempe Normal School. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and currently houses the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, known as the writer's house.

Arthur John Matthews was the seventh principal/president of Arizona State University, then known as the Tempe Normal School. He served as principal from 1900 to 1904, when the position was renamed president; he remained president until 1930. Matthews is the longest-tenured president in ASU history.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. 2010-07-09.
  2. The original NRHP nomination, prepared in 1982
  3. ASU Campus Tour of Matthews Hall, accessed 2014-01-29
  4. ASU historic preservation page on Matthews Hall