| Additional Information: | Architecturally significant as one of the finest extant examples of Victorian Gothic architecture in Beloit, Memorial Hall was designed by the architectural firm of Cochrane and Garnsey. It is distinguished by massive walls of heavily rusticated limestone, steeply pitched gables, and pointed arched details. The exterior has never been altered, and the interior has never had significant changes made. Based on an L-shape plan, with two intersecting gabled units, the two story structure, with a basement, is crowned with a thin cupola and cresting along the gable ridge. Projecting gablets ornament the east and west gables while buttresses support the corners. Pointed arch stone trim divides the facade creating an arcaded effect. On the east elevation, two pointed arches rise two stories and contain paired lancet windows. On the north elevation, the entry is surmounted by wooden tracery and a quatrefoil window., and surrounded by a pointed stone arch. Circular windows punctuate the upper stories.
The building's purpose was never assigned during construction, except as a memorial.
The floor of the second story is sustained by cast iron pillars, which are still in place. The second story ceiling has been dropped. No information is available on what is above the dropped ceiling. In 1975, a modern addition to the building was made on the north, containing classrooms and offices (The Godfrey Building); entrance to this new building from Memorial Hall is through one of the paired windows to the north; but the outer bearing wall was not touched or invaded.
The architects for Memorial Hall was John C. Cochrane and George C. Garnsey, in a brief association which resulted in a major commission for the Illinois State Capitol at about the same time as the one for Beloit College. Cochrane later was responsible for many major institutional designs in Chicago.
At the outset, the building was thought of as a memorial housing relics and momentos of the Civil War. In the entry way were installed two grey marble plaques listing the names of the men of both the college and the town of Beloit who died in the Civil War.
When the library holdings of the college grew beyond the confines of the assigned room in Middle College, Memorial Hall was utilized as the library, and, continued in that use until the Carnegie Library was built in 1904-1905. At various times the building housed the Music Department, portions of the natural history collection (The Museum), and early on in this century it became the home of the Logan Museum of Anthropology, its present location and use. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Historical Sites and Points of Interest in Rock County, Wisconsin, Rock County Tourism Council, 5/1994.
(B) Beloit Daily News 11/17/1995.
(C) Robert H. Irrmann, "Data on Beloit College Buildings," on file at RCHS Archives.
(D) Withey and Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects, 1956, p. 130. |
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