The Architecture of Connecticut College Thomas Blake Mcdonald Connecticut College, [email protected]
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Connecticut College Digital Commons @ Connecticut College Architectural Studies Honors Papers Art History and Architectural Studies 1-1-2010 The Architecture of Connecticut College Thomas Blake McDonald Connecticut College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/archstudhp Recommended Citation McDonald, Thomas Blake, "The Architecture of Connecticut College" (2010). Architectural Studies Honors Papers. Paper 1. http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/archstudhp/1 This Honors Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Art History and Architectural Studies at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Architectural Studies Honors Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author. The Architecture of Connecticut College An Honors Thesis presented by Thomas Blake McDonald ‘10 to The Department of Architectural Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts Connecticut College New London, Connecticut May 2010 Abstract The Connecticut College campus has changed dramatically in the last century. Originally a women’s college design as a series of Gothic quadrangles inspired by the examples of prestigious English universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, development changed course dramatically in the 1920s and 1930s, as inwardly focused designs gave way to a sweeping Campus Green modeled after Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia. While the Green continued to serve as the organizing spine of the campus, by the midcentury the College had introduced Modernist buildings to facilitate both coeducation and expanding curriculums. This thesis starts from the premise that these changes are meaningful. Each period of expansion tells us not only about the aesthetic vision of the architects who designed the individual buildings, but also about the values of those who commissioned the structures. Thus, the spaces of the Connecticut College campus, as well as the grounds themselves, are a useful medium for understanding the educational, social, and cultural values that informed the school’s history. Based on extensive archival research and on a close reading of the buildings and their relationships to one another, this thesis considers the physical forms of the Connecticut College campus and their role in shaping both student experience and the image the College presented to the world at large. Established well after the first women’s colleges of the late 1800s, Connecticut College opened on the eve of a transformative period in women’s history. The strict codes of conduct that had governed the Victorian era were beginning to slacken, and women were taking a more active role in the cultural affairs, evident in the battle to win the right to vote. While the original layout, appearance, and amenities of the Connecticut College campus were informed by an understanding of women’s needs that emphasized domesticity and sheltering of feminine innocence, perceptions of those needs were in flux throughout the first fifty years of the College’s existence, and led to dramatic changes in campus form. Ultimately, the thesis makes two main arguments. The first is that, for the fifty years that it functioned as an all-women’s school, Connecticut College differed from the traditions of gendered higher education established in the Seven Sister schools, but also quickly diverged from models put forth by all-male colleges. After an initial building campaign of monastically-inspired structures meant to safeguard its occupants, the College quickly developed a physical and academic identity based on women’s increasingly dynamic role in American society. While still attuned to the how collegiate space for women differed from that for their male counterparts, such as the construction of multiple cooperative, “practice homes,” and the adoption of a housefellow system by which professors served as protectors of student propriety from centrally located suites in every dormitory, overall the campus adopted a progressive position reflected in the steady shift towards modern design. The second argument focuses on the more recent periods of development, when, as the College struggled to regain a sense of history, it attempted to return to the notion of the campus as a family-like entity through several building campaigns. In the years directly preceding the College’s centennial, a series of structures that look to the schools’ earliest era of development in both architectural form and community-centered function confirm an institutional commitment to close-knit togetherness. Finally, these projects reinforce the extent to which the constructed campus continues to function as a tool with which to shape the character of the College. The Architecture of Connecticut College Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 Introduction 4 “Fertile in soil and charming in outlook”: The Pre-existing Campus: 1733-1910 7 Bolles House 12 Woodworth House 17 Strickland House 21 Unity House (formerly the Ewald Residence) 25 Bosworth House 29 Nichols House 32 “Nothing so sheltering”: The Homelike Campus: 1911-1920 36 New London Hall 49 Plant House, Blackstone House, & Branford House 55 Winthrop House 60 Tansill Theater (formerly Hillyer Hall) 64 360 House (formerly North Cottage) & Earth House (formerly Dr. Lieb’s Cottage) 68 “No cloister, this college”: A Welcoming Campus: 1920-1929 74 Blaustein Humanities Center (formerly Palmer Library) 87 Vinal Cottage 94 Knowlton House (formerly Colonial House) 99 Holmes Hall 105 Fanning Hall 109 “Practical Approaches to the Problems of Citizenship”: Academics Find Form: 1929-1942 113 Power House 127 Windham House 132 Mary Harkness House 137 Jane Addams House & Freeman House (formerly 1937 House) 142 Buck Lodge 148 Stanwood Harris House 153 Emily Abbey House 155 Frederick Bill Hall 161 1 The Architecture of Connecticut College Frank Loomis Palmer Auditorium 166 Winthrop Annex 172 Grace Smith House & Alverna Burdick House (formerly called East House) 175 Mary Harkness Chapel 180 Single Family Faculty Housing at 7 & 8 North Ridge Road 186 Katherine Blunt House 191 “Responsive to the special interests of our age”: The Modern Campus: 1946-1961 196 The Winslow Ames House and the House of Steel 206 Lillian Warnshuis Infirmary 209 Winchester Road Faculty Houses 214 William Hale Laboratory 218 Larrabee House 223 College Center at Crozier Williams 228 “The awakened moral imagination”: Campus Equality: 1961 – 1974 234 North Complex 251 S. Ralph Lazrus House 258 Service Building 263 Joanne and Nathan Toor Cummings Art Center 265 River Ridge Apartments 271 “Compelled to think carefully about priorities”: Campus Withdrawal: 1974 – 1986 274 The President’s Residence (772 Williams Street) 283 Charles E. Shain Library 286 Dayton Arena and Luce Field House (the Athletic Complex) 290 “A Model of Civil Society in a Global Community”: The Reflective Campus: 1986-2009 295 Horizon Admissions House 313 The Charles and Sarah Pithouse ’27 Becker House 317 F.W. Olin Science Center 321 Appendix A – Buildings by Architect 326 Image List 328 Bibliography 335 2 The Architecture of Connecticut College Acknowledgements The completion of this guidebook was possible only through the efforts of many. The greatest thanks goes to Professor Abigail Van Slyck, first for sparking my interest in collegiate architecture, and then encouraging me to explore the dormitories, classrooms, and grounds that I engage with everyday. This guidebook would never have been realized without Professor Van Slyck’s constant support and academic guidance. I am also grateful to those who read my early drafts, especially Professor Ann Devlin and Professor Joseph Alchermes. The constructive and insightful comments of both helped bring clarity and cohesion to my words. However, my research would not have gotten far without the assistance of the staff of the Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives at Connecticut College. To Laurie Deredita, Ben Panciera, and especially Nova Seals, my tremendous gratitude for providing me with sources for my research, as well as advice on where to look next. Finally, I extend many thanks to the students of Professor Van Slyck’s Architecture of Connecticut College course, whose names appear below. The research done by each provided the springboard for much of my work and was integral to my initial understanding of the structures on our campus. Spring 2008 Alex Gomes Ashley Castle Ashley Christie Johanna Paine Leah Votto Manuel Munoz Matthew Hoza Peter Friedrich Fall 2008 Adam Glos Eleanor Lawson Genevievre Broche Hannah Tressler Louise Geraghty Peter Courtemanche Rachel Makson Sofia Ziegler 3 The Architecture of Connecticut College Introduction In the spring of 1910, a small group of college-graduated Hartford women, led by high school teacher Elizabeth C. Wright, met to discuss the future of women’s higher education in Connecticut. What prompted the meeting was a 1909 decision at nearby Wesleyan University to close its doors to women after forty years as the only co- educational institution in the state. Discontent with the notion that Connecticut was suddenly one of only a few states in New England that did not provide women any educational opportunities beyond that of the public high school system, Wright quickly assembled a committee of influential Connecticut residents to address