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