The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Thad M. Buckner Building

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Thad M. Buckner Building, Florida Southern College

Institution Name: Florida Southern College
Original/Historic Place Name: E.T. Roux Library
Location on Campus: West Campus - Johnson Ave.
Date(s) of Construction and Designer(s):

1945	original construction Wright, Frank Lloyd
1956	extension Unknown

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

Foundation: concrete

Walls: concrete textile block

Roof: built-up

Function:

1945-1968	library
1969-present (2007)	administration
ca. 2004-present (2007)	classrooms (seminar room)

Significance: architecture, landscape
Landmark designation:

National Register

Florida Southern College Architectural District (1975)

Narrative: see below
References: see below

Narrative:
To the northwest of the Pfeiffer Chapel is the Thad M. Buckner Building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and originally named the E. T. Roux Library. This low, split-level building is dominated by the circular reading room measuring ninety feet across. The roof, which spans the entire space, is built-up of three flat, concentric levels which form two clear stories admitting light to the tan and white reading room. On the northeast side of the building is a two-story, rectangular wing which houses offices, book stacks, and a smaller study area. As with all of the Wright buildings, the external walls are composed of the same materials as the Pfeiffer Chapel. The interior of the reading room contains three tiers of wood study desks with a librarian's desk in the center of the room. Protruding from the northeast wing into the round space is a mezzanine. The northeast wing is dominated by diamond shaped light shafts. In 1956, a 900 square foot extension was made to the northwest corner of the structure. Between 1968 and 1969 the building was converted to administrative use, the student body having outgrown its capacity, and it was renamed the Thad Buckner Building at that time.

References:

I. Bibliographic sources:

Florida Southern College. Historic American Buildings Survey report and photos. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, [n.d.].

Florida Southern College: The First Hundred Years. Lakeland, FL: Florida Southern College, 1985.

Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly 12, no. 3 (2001).

Little, J. Rodney, and Phillip A. Werndli. Florida Southern College Architectural District. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1975.

Rogers, Steven B. "The Frank Lloyd Wright Campus at Florida Southern College: A Child of the Sun." Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly 12 (Summer 2001): 4-23.

Smalling, Walter, Jr. E. T. Roux Library (Buckner Building) [Florida Southern College]. Historic American Buildings Survey photographs. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1979.

Sweeney, Robert L. Frank Lloyd Wright: An Annotated Bibliography. Art & Architecture Bibliographies, no. 5. Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, 1978.

II. Location of other data:

SHPO

Government Offices

Other: Frank Lloyd Wright Archives - Taliesin West, (AZ)