Oberlin College- Oberlin, OH

Generally speaking, old colleges have fabulous architecture. Usually grand Gothic, but depending on when they were founded, also stately Greek Revival or red roofed Mediterranean. Oberlin College in Ohio consists of an eclectic mix of buildings, spanning over two centuries. Although a collection of different styles, the buildings work well together, and provide an interesting journey through architectural time.

The college was founded in 1833 as the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, by a pair of Presbyterian ministers, John Jay Shipherd and Philo Stewart. Named after an Alsatian minister, Jean-Frederic Oberlin, it is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States, and the first college in the United States to admit African-Americans. Few traces of the early campus remain, however; most of today’s historic buildings date to what they call the Oberlin Stone Age, 1885-1910.

The first buildings constructed during this period were Peters Hall (1885), Baldwin Cottage (1885), and Talcott Hall (1887), designed by Akron architects Weary & Kramer. These buildings are textbook Richardsonian Romanesque; solid, substantial buildings, made of rough-textured buff Ohio sandstone, quarried just six miles from campus. Massive buildings, suggesting permanence, accented with towers, bays and tall punched windows. The interiors were elegant, boasting grand rooms and parlors, as well as smaller intimate spaces, all finished with dark, rich woodwork.

Although several more buildings were planned, the Depression of 1890, followed by the Panic of 1893, halted new campus construction. Shortly after the election of William McKinley, the depression ended, and the college resumed their building program in 1897. Severance Chemical Laboratory (1900) Warner Gymnasium (1900), Carnegie Library (1908), and Wilder Hall (1911) were all constructed during this time, in a more subdued fashion. They were still largely built in the Ricardsonian Romanesque style, but the flourishes were gone.

A gift of philanthropist and library lover Andrew Carnegie, the eponymous structure was designed by Chicago architects Patton and Miller, who also designed Warner Gymnasium. Constructed of Amherst sandstone, the second floor contained a large reading room that extended across the entire front of the building. When the college later outgrew the facility, it was converted to office and event space.

Severance Chemical Laboratory, now known as Severance Hall, was designed by Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, who grew up just doors away from Henry Hobson Richardson’s famous Glessner House. The building was gifted to the college by Cleveland philanthropist Louis H. Severance, the first treasurer of Standard Oil. Constructed of Ohio sandstone, it consists of two wings at right angles to each other, connected by a central tower. Originally the building housed chemical labs, as well as a large lecture hall; today, the building belongs to the Psychology Department, and contains offices and classrooms.

Closely following the Stone Age, is a period of lighter design by Cass Gilbert, heralded in by the Finney Memorial  Chapel (1908), followed by the Cox Administration Building (1915) and the Allen Memorial Art Museum (1917).  Constructed in a French Romanesque style, the buildings almost appear Mediterranean, with warm rubbed sandstone, arches, and red tiled roofs. During this time, Gilbert also designed the Woolworth Building in Manhattan; later, he would design several state capitols, as well the United States Supreme Court.

Gilbert’s 1917 Allen Memorial Art Museum is stylistically very similar to the Finney Chapel, although leaning a bit more towards the Italian Renaissance style. The building was a gift from the estate of Dudley Peter Allen, a prominent physician and Oberlin graduate who admired the chapel, and sought to create a similar building to showcase the college’s art collection. Allen also happened to be married to Elizabeth Severance, daughter of benefactor Louis Henry Severance, who had earlier gifted Severance Chemical Laboratory to the college.

Inside the art museum, a central sculpture courtyard, flanked by galleries. Above, a wrought iron balcony, offering a bird’s eye view of the pieces below. The intricate, painted ceiling is nothing short of spectacular. The building is every bit as masterful as the artwork it contains, which is an impressive collection of over 14,000 items, including items from Renoir, Picasso, Cezanne, Monet and Warhol. It is considered one of the finest college art collections in the country.

The follow period of construction at the college was largely unremarkable. Although half of the buildings on the campus have been constructed since 1946, only a few of them are notable. First, the mid-century masterpiece Hall Auditorium. While I typically am drawn to the aesthetics of much older buildings, I find the lines of Wallace Harrison’s 1953 music venue captivating. Originally, a Cass Gilbert design was approved, which looked more like a church than an auditorium. However, construction was delayed by World War I, then later, post war inflation. Following the stock crash in 1929, money was no longer available to construct Gilbert’s grand design.

Instead, a Neo-Expressionist design by architect Wallace Harrison, known for large public projects in New York City, including the United Nations Headquarters, was selected. Completed in 1953, it features a wavy wall of simulated white marble, and a flat wide cornice which extends to flat stone side walls. The slab roof slants in, and towards the rear of the building. Holding 500 people, it was a significant change from Gilbert’s proposed 4000 seat auditorium.

In 1966, the New Formalism/Neo-Gothic King Building was constructed, looking like nothing else on campus. It was designed by prominent architect Minoru Yamasaki, who also designed the original World Trade Center. Built of reinforced steel and quartz aggregate, with narrow window coverings, it has a very distinct appearance. It is a love it or hate it building, that definitely reflects the era in which it was constructed.

Lastly, the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Welzheimer/Johnson house. While not actually on the campus, it was left to the college, and is administered by the Allen Memorial Art Museum. The Usonian was commissioned by Charles Weltzheimer in 1947; the original budget was $15,000, but like many of Wright’s projects, the final cost was substantially more. Completed in 1949, the L shaped structure boasted a trademark cantilever, built in furniture, clerestory windows, and radiant floor heating.

When the Welzheimer’s sold the house in the 1960s, the new owners made drastic changes to the property, including the addition of a brick column, downspouts, and formica counter tops. Additionally, redwood walls in the living room where painted white. Which is unconscionable, and absolutely horrifying. The property was then purchased by Ellen H. Johnson, a professor at Oberlin, who spent the next 25 years undoing the damage. Upon her death in 1992, the house was transferred to Oberlin college. While it is only occasionally open for tours, you can walk around the exterior of the home, and peer in the many windows.

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