Insert Pun Here

October 2024.

Bolz Hall… one of three phallically named engineering buildings. Take a wild guess what students call it instead. Additionally, it being attached to Hitchcock Hall probably doesn’t make things any better. Strap in for another boring one, all these Modernist engineering buildings are nothing special.

Bolz Hall is located on north campus, attached to Hitchcock Hall to the north and bordered by Caldwell Lab to the south, the Physics Research Building to the east, and the Northwest and Tuttle Garage to the west.

History

Bolz Hall’s main facade, undated. (Buckeye Stroll)

Bolz Hall was designed in 1957 by Bellman, Gillett, and Richards as the “Civil and Aeronautical Engineering Building,” also abbreviated to the “CAE Building.” Drawings were labeled as “College of Engineering Classroom-Office Facilities.” How innovative. It was done in a rather bare Mid-Century Modernist style, clad in brick and framed in concrete. Construction began in February 1958, the general contractor being Knowlton Construction Co., and the space was released for use on January 7, 1960. At a cost of roughly $2.4 million (which also included Caldwell Lab’s first addition), Bolz Hall has 58,466 square feet of space.

Bolz Hall’s south facade, also undated. (Buckeye Stroll)

Bolz Hall was recently remodeled twice, both within the last decade. The original, very Modernist spandrels and curtain wall on the south facade were removed in 2016 in favor of a contemporary glassy skin. The architects, BDT Architects and Designers, originally wanted to simply change the windows, but decided to replace the entire curtain wall due to cost and construction time. Their write-up on the project is really well written, and you can read it here. I think the end result is superior--the original spandrels were still referenced, but the wall becomes much lighter and more transparent. 

Additionally, the fourth floor was renovated in early 2020, which apparently ruffled a lot of feathers among engineering students. The schedule may have been changed due to COVID, but I don’t see anything else about it in the Lantern article.

Harold Bolz in 1959. (Buckeye Stroll)

The Civil and Aeronautical Engineering Building was renamed to “Bolz Hall” in May 1989, after Dr. Harold Bolz. (I hope his nickname wasn’t Harry.) Bolz attended Case Western (at that time the Case Institute of Technology) and earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1933 and 1935, respectively. He worked in Cleveland for a few years before beginning his teaching career at Purdue University. After eight years, Bolz became Ohio State’s associate dean of engineering in 1954, and was promoted to dean four years later. He retired in 1976 and was named dean emeritus, briefly serving as the interim president of Ohio Northern University. Bolz died in 1999.

Photos

Looking at the west facade of Bolz Hall, I’m uninspired. Even Hitchcock Hall, its equally unattractive neighbor, actually attains some three-dimensionality instead of having a flat brick curtain wall only interrupted by windows. If you gave a preschooler a piece of paper and some crayons and told them to draw a building, I think the end result would be similar.

Seriously, this is just bad campus architecture.

The new glass curtain wall on the south facade is an improvement for sure, though.

Around back, the building abruptly shifts to one story. I didn’t get a picture, but looking through the windows there was a laboratory of some kind.

Rusting Atomic Age implementia:

Apparently, the curtain wall was carried over to the other side too:

I do find the entry to be admittedly cool, and there’s a datestone inscribed “1959” too. It also looks like there was a red sign with the building’s name next to the door, now missing.

Inside and immediately to the left, there’s a plaque honoring Harold Bolz.

Looking ahead, Modernism meets millennial gray:

The first floor is mostly classrooms. On the second floor, which holds offices, there is this cool display of aeronautical-related items…

…and whatever a “photogrammetric computer vision laboratory” is:

The stairwells appears unaltered, but if you look closely, the gray paint on the risers is chipping away to reveal blue underneath. Turquoise and beige…I can’t think of a more mid-century color palette, can you? It’s just missing the light pink.

The third floor has more classrooms. For whatever reason, this level didn’t get the millennial gray treatment. Aside from the tile, everything looks period-correct.

I ended up not being able to access the fourth floor, since both doors in the stairwells required swipe access. That must be the end result of the 2020 renovation. 

Bolz Hall is scheduled for a future renovation in the long term, according to Framework 3.0.

Sources:

https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/24059

https://library.osu.edu/site/buckeyestroll/

https://bdtaid.com/osu-bolz/

https://www.thelantern.com/2020/02/sudden-development-in-bolz-hall-disrupts-cege-community/

Daring Today

October 2024.

Baker Systems--another delightful brick shoebox on the engineering side of campus with tiny windows. I’m about to date myself here a little and make a Spongebob reference:

Seriously, what was it with the Modernists here and designing the ugliest, most banal academic buildings possible? It makes Crown Hall look like a Rococo palace. (I actually like Crown Hall because it was innovative and transparent, unlike the inverse as seen here--unoriginal and opaque.) And before the Modernism apologists start angrily typing, every engineering major I know hates it too, and they actually have classes in the building. Just like how I can say Knowlton is kind of stupidly designed.

Baker Systems is located on north campus, bordered by Dreese Lab to the north, Annie and John Glenn Avenue to the south, Cockins Hall and the Journalism Building to the east, and McCracken Power Plant to the west. It was built on the site of an older veterinary building.

Veterinary Clinic History

The Veterinary Clinic (left) in 1926. On the right is the Neil-17th Building, also demolished. (University Archives)

The Veterinary Clinic, or Veterinary Hospital, was designed in 1908 by Richards, McCarty, and Bulford. It was built from December 1908 to the end of 1910 by L. S. Steward. It was the second veterinary clinic on campus: the original was smaller and located to the south of University Hall. The Board of Trustees voted to demolish it in 1965.

Although I am generally of the opinion that Modernist and contemporary architecture replacing earlier work is inferior in quality, or a treasure of architectural history was lost, in this case I only slightly agree. The Veterinary Clinic was rather bare and unadorned, and after 50 years it was probably way too small for the growing university. 

Baker Systems History

The groundbreaking of Baker Systems c. 1966. (Buckeye Stroll)

Baker Systems was designed in 1966 by Croce and Abbot, as the “Systems Engineering Building,” in the Mid-Century Modern style. It has a reinforced concrete frame and brick exterior. Construction began that June by R. W. Setterlin & Sons Co. and concluded in August 1968. At roughly 70,000 square feet, the building cost $3,157,407.

Baker Systems, undated. (Buckeye Stroll)

The annoying thing about buildings on campus built after 1940ish is that there’s hardly any history on them. The only other bit of information I could find was that Baker Systems was the home of one of Ohio State’s SONNET hubs during the late 1980s, a system that allowed emails to be sent between computers on campus.

The Systems Engineering Building was renamed to “The David F. Baker Systems Engineering Building” in 1970, after Dr. David Baker. Baker was a World War II veteran who was the chair of the Department of Engineering from 1964 until his death in a plane crash in 1970. He established the four year undergraduate program for industrial engineering.

Baker Systems currently houses classrooms and offices, as well as the Cognitive Systems Engineering Laboratory.

Photos

I think Baker Systems was the first aggressively uninteresting building on campus I’ve ventured into. Aside from the basement (read on…), there was pretty much nothing of interest inside, and I was in and out in like 10 minutes. So this is gonna be a short one.

Here’s Baker Systems approaching from the southeast:

Around back, the lovely fall leaves created a nice frame to view the building through.

I’m always a sucker for the warmth of bricks in sunlight.

Here’s another metal sign like the ones that grace every mid-century building on campus. Groovy!

Heading inside, the lobby was very obviously renovated recently, but everything else is stuck in 1968 beyond a new coat of gray paint.

The first floor is classrooms. A large lecture hall is located beyond the door in the above image, whereas the others are intended for smaller classes.

The second through fourth floors are all offices. (I didn’t bother with the fifth.) Pretty much all I did was take this one picture, do a lap of the hallway to see if anything interesting was there, then go to the next floor. 

I threw in the towel after a while and decided to try the basement. For whatever reason it was like three flights of stairs down, which seemed unusually deep. I peeked through the window of the door down there, and I saw brightly lit shops with nobody around. Don’t mind if I do…

It looks like a heavy-duty version of Knowlton’s MAT/FAB lab. Check out these crazy drill presses across the hall:

I didn’t linger too long, as nobody else was in the halls down there and some guy in one of the shops came out from somewhere else in the back.

Sources:

https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/24059

https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/37314

https://library.osu.edu/site/buckeyestroll/

https://library.osu.edu/site/archives/university-archives/

Don't Replace Hayes Hall!

Photos from October 2024.

Although Hopkins Hall is another one of those bland Mid-Century Modern buildings on campus, it has certain cool features to it, and I was quite surprised by the amount of stuff inside. It’s also interesting to note that it was originally meant to replace Hayes Hall. I’m glad that didn’t happen. Hopkins Hall occupies an L-shaped footprint fronting both the Oval and Annie and John Glenn Avenue, bordered by the blank space that was Lord Hall to the north, the Oval’s green space to the south, Hayes and Hughes Hall to the east, and Derby Hall to the west.

History

The original portion of Hopkins Hall under construction in 1958. The billboard is admittedly pretty cool. (Buckeye Stroll)

Hopkins Hall was designed in 1957 by Crumley and Musson, a Columbus firm that later built the Drake. Documents were either labeled as “Fine Arts Building” or “Replace Hayes Hall.” How ominous. It was designed in the Mid-Century Modern style with a concrete frame and brick cladding. Construction began in October 1957, by R. W. Setterlin & Sons. In January 1958, shortly after construction began, the Board of Trustees approved an extra East and Studio wing, which were added to the east side of the building. The building was completed by July 1959.

Hopkins Hall’s footprint in 1958.

Hopkins Hall’s addition nearing completion c. 1961. (Buckeye Stroll)

In 1961, Crumley and Musson were commissioned again to design an addition to the west face of Hopkins Hall. Construction began that June, and extra funds were released in July to add the sculpture garden in the void between Hopkins and Hayes. The entire building was ready for occupancy on December 28, 1962.

Hopkins Hall’s current footprint.

The sculpture garden, undated. (University Archives)

An interesting tidbit of history relating to Hopkins Hall was that it used to be the home of “rug concerts” in the 1970s. Music professor Theron McClure started the tradition in April 1974 to dust off old music from the School of Music’s archives that otherwise would not be performed. The name “rug concert” refers to the lack of chairs--students had to sit on the carpeted floor of the gallery, or wherever they could find space outside. These concerts ended with Professor McClure’s retirement in 1979.

An outdoor Rug Concert during the 1970s. (University Archives)

Most recently, Hopkins Hall was renovated in 2012 by Braun & Steidl Architects, a firm based in Akron. The remodeling gutted the second and third floors in favor of more studio spaces, and the original north curtain wall was removed and replaced with a large glass sash. This was meant to expose the activities within to the outside world.

The original north face of Hopkins Hall in 1964. (Buckeye Stroll)

Hopkins Hall is named after James Hopkins, the chair of the Department of Fine Arts from 1924-1947. He originally arrived on campus as the artist-in-residence. Hopkins painted portraits of university presidents Edward Orton and William Oxley Thompson, engineering professor Edward Orton Jr., and the dean of the College of Education George Arps.

Photos

I started at the south end of the building and worked my way around. Here’s the addition’s tripartite facade:

Very Modernist. Angled:

Now here’s the west facade. As is usually the case, it’s very expansive, and even with my wide-angle lens and back basically up against Derby Hall, I couldn’t get the entire thing.

I’m pretty sure it appears identical to how it was originally designed, although the windows are likely replacements. Standing where Lord Hall was, I got a 50mm shot of the north facade:

You can see the entire glass curtain wall that used to be brick and smaller windows. I think the current iteration is an improvement for sure. 

An interesting detail of Hopkins is its colored glass panes in the staircase shaft. These provide interesting colors and look very cool when the sun hits them.

Here’s a look at the two additions. I have no idea if they appear how they did originally or were altered during the renovation.

The interior courtyard has the same glassy treatment. The sculpture garden was redone at some point and appears much different:

Also, here’s the original-appearing southern portion.

The inside of Hopkins was very obviously renovated, because everything is white and it has a stripped-down look that was not popular with orthodox Modernism. (It was more utilitarian architecture, but the systems were not usually exposed.) Here’s the main hallway looking south--if you look closely, you can see that the original tile on the columns was painted white at some point:

The area near the entrance is a study space and has these odd white things on wheels. They remind me of Knowlton’s pin-up boards:

Staff was in the process of setting up an exhibit during my first cursory visit. When I came back a week later, it was all ready to go. This must be their version of the Banvard Gallery in Knowlton.

Here’s the first floor’s hallway:

In front of each classroom, there were cases that were used to hold works of art:

Of the open classrooms, all of them had all sorts of crazy art inside. This one held all sorts of papier-mache/cardboard creations:

It looks like the stairwells avoided the bomb that went off inside the rest of the building and still have their Modernist features:

I love the quality of light that the colored glass provides. I usually use my phone’s camera inside buildings for ease of access and to blend in, but this view made me get out my camera:

I then moved to the basement, which had its share of wacky stuff. The men’s bathroom had this painted sign in Latin, which translates to “the eternally stinking swamp”:

Also, check out that retro door mechanism. Here’s what most of the basement looks like:

It apparently holds studios and the ceramics lab. Vandalized storage and an odd implement:

I got heavy Knowlton vibes from being here. Art majors, I guess… 

 

The second floor didn’t really have anything interesting on it, and according to a screen on the wall it just houses the printmaking lab, classrooms, and Department of Art offices. The third floor, though, is where the photography section is:

One of those pictures looks scarily like me. I’ll let you guess which one. Here’s a faculty office that has become part-greenhouse:

You can also see the glass curtain wall better when you’re higher up:

On the fourth floor stairwell, I found an odd yellow locker that apparently holds “roof fall protection equipment.”

I found that odd because neither of the stairwells in the original building had roof access. Just seems like an unusual place for it. 

The fourth floor houses painting and drawing classes. Hey, some of these look familiar!

They also have this cool drawing at the end of the hallway, which apparently consists of 16 individual drawings done by the ART 2100 class (which I took and hated).

The fourth floor’s hallways were extra cramped:

I was struck by this printout on a professor’s office door. It might sort of be r/im14andthisisdeep material, but I think some of it makes good points. An alien(?) observing our culture for the first time would probably be asking a lot of the same questions. I did have to censor some of the profanity just in case, but you can use your imagination.

Right click → “Open image in new tab” → zoom in to read

I really did enjoy exploring Hopkins Hall, despite the exterior being deceptively boring. There’s a lot of interesting nooks and crannies on campus that go unnoticed by most.

Sources:

https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/24059

https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/37314

https://library.osu.edu/site/archives/university-archives/

https://library.osu.edu/site/buckeyestroll/?s=hopkins

https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/hopkins-hall-renovations-5675