Photos from December 2024.
Living in Bradley Hall must be kind of nice, since it has direct access to Kennedy Commons. Imagine being able to stay inside when you’re hungry in the freezing winter. But to be fair, I can count on one hand the amount of really wintry days that Columbus experienced in 2023/2024. It only snowed three times and melted within a day or two.
History
Bradley Hall is located on the far south side of campus. It’s located next to 12th Avenue to the north, Canfield Hall to the south, and it is connected to Paterson Hall to the east and Kennedy Commons to the west. It was designed by university architect Howard Dwight Smith in 1952 in tandem with Paterson Hall, Canfield Hall’s addition, and two additions to Kennedy Commons/Women’s Dining Hall. Construction began in April 1953, executed by James I. Barnes Construction Co., and was completed in December 1954 for occupation in 1955. Bradley Hall was dedicated on May 7, 1955. The building has 42,271 square feet of space (John Herrick notes this may only include half of the connection).
Bradley Hall in 1957. (Buckeye Stroll)
Bradley Hall was named after Ohio State professor Carolyn Bradley (1898-1954). She has quite the impressive list of degrees: bachelor’s degrees from Earlham College and John Herron Art School, two unspecified degrees from Columbia University and Traphagen School of Fashion, and a master’s degree from the Escuela Universitaria de Bella Artes in Mexico. Bradley worked as a professor in the School of Fine and Applied Arts from 1932 to her death in 1954. She loved to travel and spoke fluent Spanish, so she held positions such as educational ambassador and visiting professor in schools across South America, earning her the nickname “Paintbrush Ambassador.”
Carolyn Bradley c. 1940. (University Archives)
Teaching in Central America had its challenges--due to the economic status of many of these countries, Bradley had to donate her own supplies or take students on digs for clay to use as pigment. Her students ranged from college-age to elementary schoolers.
Bradley with her art. (University Archives)
Bradley’s work included greeting cards and watercolor paintings. She studied with famous artists such as Henry B. Snell, James Hopkins, and Carlos Merida. Her work won a total of 58 awards, and she also wrote three books on costume design.
One of Bradley’s Christmas card designs, 1940. (University Archives)
I wasn’t able to find any information online about whether or not Bradley Hall has been renovated or not. The only changes I know of are the reshaping of the green space out front a la Paterson. It also seems like the building used to have red front doors, which were removed in favor of the current ones between 2012-2015.
2012 view of Bradley Hall’s main entrance. (Google Maps)
I found an interesting Reddit post while doing research that relates to Bradley Hall. A student was “demoing out a dorm room” and found this flier from the 1960-1961 school year:
(u/dline60 on Reddit)
Man, this sure seems draconian in 2024! This notice is for women, since Bradley Hall was originally a women’s dorm. Imagine having to wear a fancy dress to dinner on Sundays. I wonder what the men’s requirements were like, maybe they had to wear a suit and tie on Sundays too? I think the only dress code at Ohio State right now is “wear clothes.”
Photos
I visited Bradley Hall on the same day that I did Paterson Hall, so if you recall I was unfortunately lazy that day and didn’t really try too hard with my photo-taking skills. Let’s begin with my shoddy attempt at a shot of the whole front facade:
The stupid Mediterranean food truck sat directly centered in front of the entrance, so I again had to take this one at an awkward angle:
The roof and pinnacles:
In back, the windows do the same International style-esque “rounding the corner” thing as Paterson.
Crazy (unedited) lighting on the very southwest corner:
When I got inside, I sat down to relax for a second, and an alarm on a panel nearby immediately started beeping. That just about gave me a heart attack, even though it was probably just something random happening elsewhere.
Here’s the inside of that “connection unit” between Paterson and Bradley. This view faces south--Paterson Hall is ahead of me.
The central study rooms:
The hallways/doors are pretty standard fare for dorms from this era.
The basement is pretty similar to Paterson’s, too. The red doors lead into the lobby of Kennedy Commons.
Fancy, unmolested janitor’s closet, too…I wonder if the whole building used to be tiled like that.
Like the other nearby south campus dorms, Bradley Hall is scheduled for renovation in the near term, according to Framework 3.0. Again, I’m not really sure what that would involve, since the interior seems pretty up to date.
Sources:
https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/24059
https://knowltondl.osu.edu/index.php/Gallery/1
https://library.osu.edu/site/buckeyestroll/
https://library.osu.edu/site/archives/university-archives/
https://www.reddit.com/r/OSU/comments/nmg6uh/how_the_times_have_changed_found_in_bradley_hall/
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