The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Hepburn Hall

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Hepburn Hall (three-quarter view, 1956), St. Lawrence University

Institution Name: St. Lawrence University
Original/Historic Place Name: Hepburn Hall of Chemistry
Location on Campus:
Date(s) of Construction and Designer(s):

1925-1926	original construction Unknown
1978	complete interior renovation Unknown

Type of Place: Individual building
Style(s): (Glossary)
Materials:

Foundation: stone

Walls: white limestone

Roof: none specified

Function:

ca. 1926	academic department building (science)
ca. 2004-present (2007)	academic department building (economics, government)

Significance: architecture, education, religion
Landmark designation:

National Register

St. Lawrence University - Old Campus Historic District (1983)

Narrative: see below
References: see below

Narrative:
Built with funds from the estate of A. Barton Hepburn, chairman of Chase Bank in New York City, and an equal gift from his wife, Emily Eaton Hepburn, Hepburn Hall is an eclectic collegiate structure. The exterior is finished in the same Morley white limestone as that used in Gunnison Chapel. The main symmetrical facade is highlighted by a series of Gothic-inspired buttresses and a slightly protruding central section containing the main entrance. All the windows in the three-story building are casement type and contained in vertical, round-topped, slightly recessed panels that run from the ground level to below the roof edge. The interior originally housed part of the growing science department with a large lecture hall serving a variety of academic and non-academic functions. In 1978, the interior was completed renovated with new stairwells, furniture, and decoration, but the exterior remains virtually as originally constructed except for a new enclosed fireproof stairwell on the northeast side.

Hepburn Hall was dedicated on October 26, 1929 by Marie Curie.

References:

I. Bibliographic sources:

Baule, John A. St. Lawrence University--Old Campus Historic District. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1974.

II. Location of other data:

University: Library, Special Collections, Facilities Management Office, Unknown
—details: Archives, Owen D. Young Library, St. Lawrence University.

SHPO

Government Offices