Historic Buildings at GW, 1820-1910
From GWUEncyc
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First location (1820-1884)
The original campus was comprised of five buildings on “College Hill,” a parcel of land consisting of approximately 47 acres north of Boundary Street (now known as Florida Avenue) between 14th and 15th Streets. This "rural" campus was about a half-hour walk from the Capitol Building. The main college building, a brick edifice consisting of five floors, 58 rooms and 60 fireplaces, could accommodate 100 students. Three other buildings were occupied by the President and his family, faculty, and a Steward. One additional building was used for classrooms.
Report of Building Committee, Seventh Annual Report of Board
Commenced last spring (1820) building 117' long 17' deep, basement of stone, walls 27 in. thick, first main story of brick walls 22 in. thick, second brick story, walls 18 in. thick, 3rd brick story, walls 14 in. thick. Garret is divided like rest of main stories into rooms with dormant windows and fireplaces, making in the whole building 5 stories inc. basement and garret. On the basement floor kitchen it measured 33x17, dining room 42x16, recitation room or chapel 42x16. In the garret was a room with three windows and two fireplaces 30x16--temporarily for philosophical apparatus and experiments. One hall on second and one on third each 11x17, designed, temporarily for library. In whole bldg. are 60 fireplaces and 58 rooms, calculated for 100 students. Land, paid for, cost $7,000, building with appurtenances when finished $30,000. Well 60 ft. deep dug adjacent to building upon "a never failing spring of fine water." We will be ready the first of October. For professors, will erect two buildings under one roof separated by brick wall each 25 ft. front 40 ft. deep with garret and basement. Buildings set on cardinal points.
On April 7, 1866 student George Coffin wrote in his diary that: “Great improvements are taking place in the College grounds; terraces & the edges of the grass plots have been sodded; trees are being planted; the grass seed, sown sometime ago all over the grounds, is springing up; the walks & drives have been provided with paved gutters on either side; the old gymnasium, during the war used as a dead house, has been pulled down & a new one is being erected; in short everything is undergoing a thorough renovation & improvement.”
Second location (1884-1910)
The university moved in 1884 to downtown Washington, and erected a University Building, and Law Building, at H Street and L, N.W. Here it remained until 1910, when these properties were sold and other space rented on Eye Street, N.W.
This building is four stories high and has a frontage of 121 feet on Fifteenth Street and 64 ½ on H Street, with an annex extending back on the south line 156 feet. The façades are built of pressed and moulded bricks which latter were especially shaped and modeled for the building, with its terra-cotta ornamentations are artistically designed to give architectural expression to the educational purposes of the edifice. The ascent to the main floor is by iron stairs 12 feet wide, and to the floor above by a massive ornate staircase 7 feet wide.
In the main story are contained the Law Lecture Hall, 45 feet by 60 feet (capable of seating five hundred persons), the Museum, the University Library, the President’s Office, the Reception Room, and one Lecture Room. The upper stories contain Lecture Rooms, Professors’ studies, the Chemical Lecture Hall, the Enosian Society Hall, while the pavilion which surmounts the building is designed for use by the teacher of Astronomy. The basement story, which is at an average depth of only 12 inches below the pavement, contains several Lecture rooms, the Assay Department, steam-heating rooms, fuel rooms, store rooms, &c. The Chemical Laboratories are relegated to the lateral annex on the south line of the lot, and are separated from the main building by a heavy brick wall. Access to the laboratories is obtained by a spacious stone staircase, built around the main ventilating shaft, and encased by brick walls to make it proof against fire. Heavy brick partitions and iron beams running through the whole building render each tier of rooms secure from communication in case fire should occur in any part of the structure. The building is heated throughout by steam and by a combination of both direct and indirect radiation. The ventilation is effected by a general system dependent on two large shafts and by a special system of flues connecting with these shafts, or with chimneys, and reaching to every room occupied for purposes of instruction.
Document Information
Images: 4
Photographic Credit: GW University Historical Photographs Collection; 1904 yearbook
Author or Source: George Coffin papers/MS2048; University Bulletin, 1890/91
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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