Stockton Hall
From GWUEncyc
Building
Title: Stockton Hall
Address: 720 20th Street, N.W.
Square and lot, bordering streets: Square 102, lot 838 (G, H, 20th, 21st Street)
Architect: Albert L. Harris & Arthur B. Heaton
Date of construction: 1924-25
Original owner: George Washington University
Description: Stockton Hall was dedicated on November 14, 1925 and named for Rear Admiral Charles Herbert Stockton, University President (1910-1918). Stockton Hall was designed in 1924 by Albert L. Harris and Arthur Heaton to serve as the University's Law School. The restrained composition, the conservative use of materials, and the classical detailing represent the institutional Georgian Revival common to office buildings and schools of the early 20th century. It was intended to complement Corcoran Hall which faces 21st Street, although it is slightly smaller (108 feet 6 inches wide and 5 feet deep). Built for George Washington University by the Wardman Construction Company, its four stories of concrete and steel framing are faced with brick and sandstone. The centrally placed entrance is articulated by scored sandstone and flanked by three segmentally arched windows on each side. Original downspouts divide the façade horizontally into three equal parts; the vertical lines are articulated by stone and brick belt courses and recessed brick panels under the third story windows.
Today the building is flanked by the construction of new classroom buildings in the post modern style designed by Keyes, Condon and Florance. This firm has incorporated the Jacob Burns Law Library, constructed in 1970 to the design of Mills, Petticord and Mills, and Stockton Hall into its total composition. By lacing the extant buildings together through the careful use of red brick and brownstone, a cohesive design is created in which the new structures complement the old both in form and material.
Historic designation: DC Landmark, 11/18/87; National Register, 9/13/91
Document Information
Images: 1
Photographic Credit: Library of Congress
Author or Source: Application for Historic Buildings Registry, 1974
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist; G. David Anderson, University Archivist and Historian
For more information about GW history
Contact:
Special Collections Research Center [1]
The Melvin Gelman Library [2]
The George Washington University [3]
2130 H Street, NW Suite 704
Washington, DC 20052
202-994-7549
mailto:archives@gwu.edu
Please send us your questions and comments about the encyclopedia.
This site is maintained by the Special Collections Research Center and the Web Development Group.
