Tompkins Hall of Engineering
From GWUEncyc
Building
Title: Tompkins Hall of Engineering
Address: 725 23rd Street, N.W.
Square and lot, bordering streets: Square 56 (G, H, 22nd, 23rd Streets)
Architect: Faulkner, Kingsbury, Stenhouse
Date of construction: 1955
Original owner: George Washington University
Description: This sleek four-story building was designed in a Moderne style with decorative cutouts at the ends of the main façade. It is faced with stone panels and possesses a granite, slightly projecting entrance. The windows are grouped in banks of four and are separated by horizontally-banded metal panels. The building was named in honor of Charles H. Tompkins, a local builder and University Trustee (1952-56), and was completed in 1956. On June 20, 1956 the GW Vault for the Future was dedicated (to be opened in 2056), and is located under the front entrance of Tompkins Hall. The building is the home of The School of Engineering and Applied Science. Historic St. Mary's Church is located just across 23rd Street.
The following is an article from the GW Alumni Review, May 1955:
“The newest step in the University’s expansion program was marked last month when ground was broken for the Tompkins Hall of Engineering. The four-story limestone building, a gift of Charles H. Tompkins, will be erected on 23rd Street between G and H Streets. Mr. Tompkins, noted Washington builder, is a Trustee of the University and an alumnus of the School of Engineering.
“Similar in design to other modern constructions at the University, Tompkins Hall will house laboratories, classrooms, conference rooms, offices, and several small individual laboratories for graduate students. It will provide facilities for research and testing in concrete, fluid mechanics, materials, heat and power, soil mechanics, stress analysis, heating and ventilation, instrumentation, ultra-high frequency, antenna, and design. Two rooms are designed for the study of electrical communication and power.
“According to Dr. Martin A. Mason, Dean of the Engineering School, it will offer a sound basic program of intensive study in the fundamental sciences of engineering which will complement rather than compete with highly specialized governmental and industrial laboratories in the Washington area.”
Historic designation: None
Document Information
Images: 0
Photographic Credit: n/a
Author or Source: University Archives subject files; GW Alumni Review, May 1955
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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