herr2ck: Smeeb and P-Strad

Photos from April-October 2024.

Park-Stradley and Smith-Steeb Halls are two almost identical dorms sitting on a parallel axis. It makes quite an interesting effect--they appear as dominoes in line with each other. But these two buildings were once four.

Park-Stradley and Smith-Steeb are located on the far southeast side of campus. They’re bordered to the north by Baker Hall, to the south by 11th Avenue and German House, to the east by College Avenue and Drinko Hall, and to the west by Siebert Hall.

I’ll cover the history of each individual building first, from west to east, then get to my own contemporary observations and pictures.

Stradley Hall History

Stradley Hall is the leftmost of the towers and the wing I personally lived in. It was designed by university architect W. E. Linch.

Historic photo of Stradley Hall -- undated, but likely from the 1950s based on cars present in the image. (Buckeye Stroll)

John Herrick refers to Stradley Hall as that name; but he notes that as part of the project to construct Park and Smith Halls and the food-service addition to Baker Hall, it was also known as one of the “11th Avenue Residence Halls for Men.” Stradley Hall was named after Bland Stradley (1889-1957), who served as University Examiner and later Vice President of Student Relations.

Bland Stradley in 1957. (Buckeye Stroll)

Stradley Hall was constructed with a reinforced concrete frame and a brick façade. Its contractor was Garwick & Ross, Inc. Construction began in 1957 and was completed in early 1959 at a cost of $1.8 million. The building was dedicated on October 17, 1959. According to Herrick, the net assignable square footage is 65,696.

Male students in a Stradley dorm c. 1962. (Buckeye Stroll)

Stradley Hall was a men’s dormitory, as was the style of the time. When I lived there, girls lived right across the hall from me--ghastly! I can only imagine the monocle-clutching if the administrators from that time period knew that this dorm would later become co-ed.

Stradley Hall’s lobby in 1960. (Buckeye Stroll)

For whatever reason I find this lobby to be incredibly charming. It looks like a building from Fallout. Obviously all traces of original décor have been wiped from the lobby today (now extra studying space as the lobby has relocated centrally between the two wings).

Park Hall History

Park Hall stands to the right of Stradley Hall. Again, it was built at the same time as Stradley, Smith Hall, and the final Baker Hall addition. Ohio State’s student population was growing at the conclusion of World War II, and demand prompted the construction of new residence halls on campus.

East facade of Park Hall in 1987. The chevron-shaped stairs have since disappeared post-renovation. (Buckeye Stroll)

Like Stradley Hall, Park Hall is also known as one of the “11th Avenue Residence Halls for Men.” It was named for Joseph Park (1893-1952), who was an Ohio State alum who served in World War I. He worked for the school for over 20 years, first as a student counselor, later as the first Dean of Men from 1929-1952. Park did significant work across campus, such as building the original Stadium Dormitory for lower-income students and working to reduce hazing in fraternities.

A view of Park and Stradley Halls from the south, likely late 1990s to early 2000s. (Knowlton Archives)

Like Stradley Hall, Park Hall was constructed with a concrete frame and brick exterior, and its contractor was Garwick & Ross, Inc. Construction also took place from January 1957 - March 1959, and it was dedicated on the same date. Herrick notes that the square footage is slightly lower than its counterpart--64,144 as of 1986.

Smith Hall History

Standing east of Park and Stradley Halls, Smith Hall was also built at the same time (1957-1959) and as part of the “11th Avenue Residence Halls for Men” project. It is separated from the two by a small quad, flanked by the Baker Hall addition to the north.

Smith Hall in 1959. (Buckeye Stroll)

Smith Hall was named for Howard Dwight Smith (1886-1958). Smith was University Architect, whose large portfolio included works such as Ohio Stadium, St. John Arena, and additions to Thompson Library. See his page for every building he designed that I’ve covered. He was an Ohio State alum, graduating from the College of Engineering in 1907, and returned to serve as an architecture professor alongside his role as University Architect. AIA awarded him the Exhibition Gold Medal for Ohio Stadium in 1921, and the university honored him with the Distinguished Service Award in 1955.

Howard Dwight Smith, undated. (Buckeye Stroll)

Again, Smith Hall shares the same construction and contractor as its surrounding buildings. It was dedicated on the same date as Stradley and Park Halls.

Steeb Hall History

Steeb Hall, the easternmost building of the four, is interesting in that it was built and occupied slightly later than Stradley, Park, and Smith Halls. Construction started in June 1959, after the other three were completed, and was completed in time for the spring 1961 semester.

Steeb Hall in 1961. (Buckeye Stroll)

Since Steeb Hall was constructed at a later time, it was part of a different project--the “East Addition to Baker Hall and Building no. 4.” This proposed addition never happened, and Steeb took its place (it was the “Building no. 4”).

Carl Steeb c. 1920s. (Buckeye Stroll)

Steeb Hall was named after Carl Steeb (1875-1958), who was an Ohio State alum that played on the university’s first basketball team. After he graduated, he worked for the university as an accountant, and later was appointed to the Board of Trustees as their secretary. He also held the position of Business Manager from 1909-1945, which he retained as an emeritus after he retired, while remaining Secretary of the Board until right before his death in 1958.

Undated photo of all four residence halls taken from the roof of the Union. (Knowlton Archives)

I had always wondered why Steeb Hall had black spandrels--a slight departure from the design of its neighbors. Park and Smith Halls lack spandrels, while Stradley Hall’s are light gray.

Before I start on the history post-1950s, it’s important to note a few original design features that later changed. Each dorm was entered through its main ground-floor projection and presumably from the parking lots in between as well. These secondary entrances had cool little mid-century roofs over them, as visible in this old Google Maps screenshot:

Park and Stradley Halls c. 2009. (Google Maps)

A small brick wall stood out in front of each building, and they were bordered by a fence, which is no longer standing. While not visible in this image, both dorms had metal “STRADLEY HALL” and “PARK HALL” signs on their south side (similar to those on the Mid-Century Modern north campus dorms). Additionally, there was a little parking lot out front, where university vehicles could park.

The middle projection likely housed bathrooms, while the north and south ends had dorm rooms. The windows seem to have been changed out between the 1980s-2000s, as the original aluminum windows are present in the 1987 photo, yet they are replaced by double-hung ones in the 2000s photos.

Smith and Steeb Halls c. 2000s. (Knowlton Archives)

In 2011, Ohio State started requiring students to live on campus for their sophomore year. Typically, most colleges only have an on-campus housing requirement for freshmen. With this policy change, more dorm space was needed, and additions to Stradley, Park, Smith, and Steeb Halls were drafted. Schooley Caldwell was commissioned to design these additions.

Study models of possible additions. (Sasaki)

This project went a lot further than just additional dorm space. Schooley Caldwell sought to create more green space on the north and south sides of the building, resulting in the extant courtyards between Baker Hall in front and the drop-off area in back. Natural light and sustainability were a concern--the project was awarded LEED Gold after its completion. This was achieved through window glazing, which reduced cooling costs, and a new geothermal well helped equipment become more efficient. The new ground-floor lobby also served as a social space, and certain areas of the existing buildings were renovated into study rooms.

Section view, facing east, of the addition. (Sasaki)

Most importantly, the project added air conditioning. Wow, now we don’t have to burn to death in the summer anymore! I’m a fan of the addition project, I’m always an advocate for green design and I think it was executed beautifully. I’ll expand on why I like it in my own photos. With their renovations and additions, Park-Stradley and Smith-Steeb have become some of the more desirable dorms on campus.

Park-Stradley Hall undergoing renovation in 2011. (Columbus Dispatch)

Interestingly, the geothermal well project stalled during its installation in the South Oval. The initial contractor, Chesapeake Geosystems, Inc., was “released from its obligations” after ineffective drilling methods slowed the work. After another 2 million dollar increase in the budget, the wells were finally installed by Bergerson-Caswell.

Smith and Steeb Halls in the early stages of renovation. Park-Stradley is nearly complete, as indicated by the newly installed window on the east facade. (Google Maps)

Now let’s get to my own contemporary coverage:

Park-Stradley Hall Photos

Again, I lived in Park-Stradley, so I knew it very well compared to other dorms on campus. I started by taking a picture of each facade of the building, beginning with the south:

It was challenging to get a shot that included the building in its entirety straight on because of the leafy trees to the right. This view at least shows the addition as it relates to the two original structures. I think I took this on a day where it rained beforehand, so some of the panels are kind of gross-looking.

Here you can see the projecting glass structure which houses study rooms on floors 2-9. I’m very jealous of these and wish the large study rooms extended up to the top two floors.

I also zoomed in on the extra study room on one of the lower floors:

These happened in a few instances, usually on the lower floors. I believe they were previously dorm rooms, but the walls were knocked down to add an extra study room. It helps break the monotony of the sheer brick wall.

Now we’re looking west. Floors 5-6 and 9-10 of Park have that study room thing going on up there too:

Here’s a detail of the east entrance:

I got around to the gravel parking lot across 11th Avenue and got a rare 50mm shot of the main north facade. I was shooting with my tripod, but didn’t think about how the ground would affect my pictures, so the original was something like 1.5 degrees off-center before I edited it.

Here’s a good look at the plaza area out front:

This was where cars were allowed to pull in, but it usually became a mess of students picking friends up, delivery drivers, and Lyft/Uber drivers once classes were done. The dumpster’s presence was unusual, it was probably because of move-out season (hence the red carts in the background). The central green space was a nice place to relax while waiting on friends.

Now here’s the west facade:

Notice the entrance clad in red stone and gray spandrels between the windows. My room was straight up from the door and one over. Let’s look closer at those spandrels:

The 10th floors’ have a little more detail on them to cap off the journey the eye takes upwards.

Now, let’s travel inside. The lobby is very tall and airy. My structures professor mentioned in lecture that they did something special with the frame to make the space column-free.

As you may remember, the original lobby is now a common space. Compare this to the 1950s picture earlier.

The basement was pretty standard and uninteresting, but it has these “big stairs” like Knowlton does:

The view from the 11th floor was pretty cool. Here’s how it appears looking south, towards downtown Columbus:

And here’s southeast (towards High Street and I-71), you can see mostly off-campus housing…

…and southwest (towards OH-315), you can see Jesse Owens South, Scholars East, Res on 10th, and Battelle:

Now we’re looking north. Baker Hall is right below, and a good chunk of campus buildings can be seen. I spy Orton, Mendenhall, Hagerty, Page, Mershon, Timashev, Drackett, Jones, Taylor, and CBEC, among others:

Northwest now, including Hale, Pomerene, Faculty Club, Thompson Library, University Hall, the Shoe, and Morrill Tower:

And finally northeast, with the Union and the gentrification-special High Street apartments:

Now we’re back to what’s inside. Here’s a view of a normal corridor, looking north:

You can see the new carpeting and lighting that the renovation added. The lights are automatic and turn off and on depending on the time of day. My main gripe was that they would be on full blast at 6 AM when I had to wake up for class, and I would instantly be blinded the second I stepped outside of my dark room. If it were up to me, they would be dimmed starting at 5:30 AM and gradually turn off as the sun rises. I also never noticed how skinny these hallways were until I visited Res on 10th for the first time.

The 10th and 11th floor of the additions have a unique feature: instead of dorm rooms, there’s a “sky lounge” that can be used for studying. The main floor space is on the 10th floor, and the 11th has a little bridge over it. The exterior wall was entirely windows and allowed for cool views. Here’s looking north…

…and south:

The actual study space:

As I mentioned earlier, the 10th and 11th floors’ study rooms are a bit smaller. Here’s what one of those looks like:

Compare that to a normal one, which looks like this:

I also managed to catch one of the expanded study rooms on the 10th floor. This was space that used to be dorm rooms, but was demoed in the renovation.

That view tho…

As a bonus, here’s an artsy-fartsy view of the Stradley side during twilight, taken for my photography class.

Smith-Steeb Hall Photos

My Smith-Steeb coverage will be more sparse, as it is effectively identical to Park-Stradley. Let’s start with the exterior again, beginning with the north face:

This one was harder to get because my back was basically against the wall of Baker. It sets back towards Smith-Steeb and reduces the amount of space in front. East now:

You can see those unusual black spandrels better now. Cool.

South:

Again, this one was hard because I couldn’t get as far away as before. This was right on the steps of the old Catfish Biff’s. Here’s west finally, I know the angle is a little wonky.

My trip inside will be even more brief. Here’s a typical Smeeb hallway:

It seems like their “color” is blue as opposed to Park-Strad’s orange. Interesting. Now let’s see their sky lounge:

For whatever reason, their “bridge” is completely straight, while Park-Stradley’s is curved (you can kinda see it in my earlier photos). How odd.

I actually almost spent the night in the lobby of Smith-Steeb during my freshman year. I had met some new friends at the bars, and after they closed we tried to watch a movie on the TV they had down there. It didn’t work, and we were stuck for reasons I can’t recall. The girls we were with lived up north and were getting tired, so they started to fall asleep on us. One snapped awake and commented “I’m not sleeping on a couch in Smeeb at 3 AM,” so we all trudged back to our dorms. I wonder what the RAs would have thought if they saw us in the morning, although it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s happened before.

Park-Stradley was a massive upgrade from my freshman abode of Baker Hall, and I enjoyed my time there. It is definitely one of the better dorms on campus and probably the best south campus dorm.