Old Main, Knox College | |
Location | Knox College campus, Galesburg, Illinois |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°56′36″N90°22′16″W / 40.9432°N 90.3712°W Coordinates: 40°56′36″N90°22′16″W / 40.9432°N 90.3712°W |
Built | 1857 |
Architect | Charles Ulricson |
Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 66000323 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 [1] |
Designated NHL | July 4, 1961 [2] |
Old Main is the oldest building on the campus of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Completed in 1857, it is a distinctive Gothic Tudor design of Swedish architect Charles Ulricson. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961 as one of the few surviving sites to host one of the famous 1858 Lincoln–Douglas debates. The building underwent a major restoration in the 1930s, which modernized its interior and restored its exterior. [2] [3]
Old Main is located on the north side of the Knox College campus, south of South Street between Alumni Hall and George Davis Hall. It is a three-story masonry structure, built out of brick with limestone and concrete trim. It is designed in part to resemble England's Hampton Court Palace, with a pair of projecting polygonal towers topped by crenellated parapets flanking its main entrance. The entrance is itself in a projecting section, in a rounded-arch opening set beneath a tall Gothic-arched window. Limestone stringcourses run between the first and second floors, and above the third floor. [3]
Old Main was completed in 1857, and is the oldest surviving building on the Knox College campus. It was designed by Charles Ulricson, a Swedish-trained architect working out of Peoria. At the time, the campus included Old Main and two dormitories, neither of which has survived. Old Main housed most of the school's academic functions for many years, including classrooms and a chapel. By the early 1930s it was in deteriorating condition, and underwent a major restoration. The interior was gutted, replaced by a flooring system of steel and concrete, while interior brick and stone were recycled to repair the exterior. Portions of the limestone trim were replaced with cast concrete at this time. In 1969, a tornado took off the belfry and part of the roof; these were rebuilt in the original style. [3]
On October 7, 1858, Old Main was the site of the fifth in the celebrated series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, then both running for the United States Senate. The debate was conducted on a platform constructed in front of the building, which the debaters reached by climbing through its windows. The college community, founded by abolitionists, strung a banner behind the platform which read "Knox College for Lincoln". The debate was attended by an crowd estimated at 15,000. The National Historic Landmark designation, made in 1961, includes the college grounds to the east where most of the crowd sat. [3]
The Chicago Water Tower is a contributing property and landmark in the Old Chicago Water Tower District in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built to enclose the tall machinery of a powerful water pump in 1869, it became particularly well known when it survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, although the area around it was burnt to the ground.
Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europe. A form of historicist architecture, it took its inspiration from English Tudor and Gothic buildings. It has returned in the 21st century in the form of prominent new buildings at schools and universities including Princeton and Yale.
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Sanborn Seminary is a historic educational facility in Kingston, New Hampshire. Its main building was built in 1883 by Major Edward S. Sanborn to serve as a secular secondary boarding school. The school ran continuously until 1966 when it was sold to the Town of Kingston. The campus became known as Sanborn Regional High School and served students from the towns of Kingston, Newton, and Fremont. The last class at this campus graduated in June 2006.
The University of Minnesota Old Campus Historic District is a historic district located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1984, it includes a number of historic buildings that were constructed during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The district represents the oldest extant section of the University of Minnesota campus.
The Main Building of Vassar College is the oldest surviving building on its campus in Poughkeepsie, New York, and the center of academic life. It was built by James Renwick, Jr. in the Second Empire style in 1861, the second building in the history of what was one of America's first women's colleges. It is one of the earliest, largest, and most important examples of Second Empire architecture in the United States and is a National Historic Landmark for its architecture and educational significance. At the time of its completion, the structure contained the most interior space of any building in the United States, and housed the entire college, including dormitories, libraries, classrooms, and dining halls. Currently, the first and second floors house campus administration while the remaining three house student rooms.
The Principia College Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District encompassing the central portion of the campus of Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. The campus master plan, as well as eleven of its buildings, are important late designs of architect Bernard Maybeck, best known for his influential architecture in the American West. The Principia was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993., and was also placed on the National Register of Historic Places that same year.
Old Main, Bethany College is a historic building group on the Bethany College campus in Bethany, West Virginia.
"Altgeld's castles" are buildings in the Gothic Revival style in five Illinois universities, all built at the initiative or inspiration of Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld. During his term as governor, Altgeld expressed certain opinions on how buildings should be erected in the state of Illinois. In his second biennial message to the state legislature, he discussed how buildings were being constructed without consideration for their outward appearance. He stated that it was time for buildings to become more aesthetically pleasing in addition to being functional, and he suggested the "Tudor-Gothic style" as the most inexpensive way to do this. Consequently, several of the state universities in Illinois erected buildings which resembled castles in his honor. College folklore states that these buildings have aligned corridors and rooms so that they could all be "put together" to create one large building, but there is no evidence to support this rumor.
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.
James Keys Wilson was a prominent architect in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied with Charles A. Mountain in Philadelphia and then Martin E. Thompson and James Renwick in New York, interning at Renwick's firm. Wilson worked with William Walter at the Walter and Wilson firm, before establishing his own practice in Cincinnati. He became the most noted architect in the city. His Old Main Building for Bethany College and Plum Street Temple buildings are National Historic Landmarks. His work includes many Gothic Revival architecture buildings, while the synagogue is considered Moorish Revival and Byzantine Architecture.
The Architecture of Buffalo, New York, particularly the buildings constructed between the American Civil War and the Great Depression, is said to have created a new, distinctly American form of architecture and to have influenced design throughout the world.
Gethsemane Lutheran Church is a historic Lutheran church in downtown Austin, Texas. Designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building currently holds offices of the Texas Historical Commission.
Lincoln School was a historic building located in Rock Island, Illinois, United States. It was designated a Rock Island Landmark in 1984, individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and became part of the Broadway Historic District when it was listed on the National Register in 1998. It was torn down in 2012 and delisted from the National Register in 2020.
Immanuel Presbyterian Church is a High Victorian Gothic-styled church built 1873–75 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1974 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, it was designated a landmark by the Milwaukee Landmarks Commission in 1969.
The Main Library is a historic library on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Urbana, Illinois. Built in 1924, the library was the third built for the school; it replaced Altgeld Hall, which had become too small for the university's collections. Architect Charles A. Platt designed the Georgian Revival building, one of several on the campus which he designed in the style. The building houses several area libraries, as well as the University Archives and the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The Main Library is the symbolic face of the University Library, which has the second largest university library collection in the United States.
Charles L. Ulricson was a Swedish-born American architect, who practiced in Peoria, Illinois. He is best known for designing Old Main (1856–57) – the principal building at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois – now a National Historic Landmark.
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(help). Accompanying 4 images, exteriors, from 1975, including photo of oldest known photo of Old Main, in 1864. (951 KB)