November 2024.
Not to be confused with the Georgian building in Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence was signed, Independence Hall is a Modernist structure housing a single massive auditorium. It has a weird footprint and was built a few decades past the Mid-Century Modernism craze on campus, so one part of me wants to call it Postmodern instead, but Dulles Hall is pretty overtly Modernist, so I’ll just stay consistent. Independence Hall is located just northwest of the Oval, bordered by Annie & John Glenn Avenue to the north, Townshend Hall to the south, University Hall to the east, and the RPAC to the west.
History
Independence Hall in 1975. (Buckeye Stroll)
Independence Hall was designed as part of the “University Hall Complex” (new University Hall, Independence Hall, and Dulles Hall) in 1972 by C. Curtiss Inscho & Associates. It was built as an auditorium to replace the addition to the old University Hall. Construction started November 1972, the general contractor being Central Ohio Construction Company, Inc., and it was released by the Office of Physical Facilities on January 1, 1975. With a steel frame and brick exterior, the building comes to a total of 7,559 square feet.
Independence Hall, looking northwest. (Buckeye Stroll)
Independence Hall has the distinction of housing the largest lecture hall on campus--its auditorium holds 746 people. I never had a class there, but I had a presentation for orientation.
Independence Hall is named after the bicentennial of the United States, since its dedication was held in 1976. A boring name for a boring building. The only thing it does besides having classes is house the University Senate.
Photos
Approaching Independence Hall from the south, you can tell that it is kind of a squat little building:
I always thought this massive picture window that breaks up the monotonous brick was kind of odd.
The northeast entrance:
Although Independence Hall’s general appearance is rather strange, the most intriguing part is the way it serrates in plan. I find it to be such an odd design choice.
Heading around the other side, you can see inside the windows that line the inside of the sharp projections:
I think the low lighting was giving me exposure issues, sorry about the blurriness.
Your masonry is looking a little green there, dude:
The inside was pretty unremarkable, and there were students in the entry, so I opted not to bother there. I did get a shot down the funky serrated area, though:
It seems like its purpose is to provide closer access points to the seats without having to walk all the way from the rear entries.
Towards the front, I found the area where the University Senate’s offices are. The hallway had a bunch of portraits of significant minority Ohio State community members.
I chickened out at the premise of entering the actual lecture hall itself, since none of the windows had glass and I couldn’t see if a class was in session. Normally that wouldn’t deter me, but I didn’t have the patience to sit through some random lecture for god knows how long waiting for one stupid picture of a building I don’t care about. So here’s a picture I stole from some random OSU-related blog:
(One Health)
Independence Hall appears to be scheduled for eventual demolition under Framework 3.0, as it will be replaced by a triangular building under “long-term new construction.”
Sources:
https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/24059
https://library.osu.edu/site/buckeyestroll/
https://u.osu.edu/onehealth/2014/12/12/discovering-discovery-themes-7500-miles-away/
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