Martin Hall was built in 1870 and is the oldest building ...

Martin Hall was built in 1870 and is the oldest building on the WVU campus. This Second Empire
style structure is the home to the School of Journalism and has served as classroom and office space
for a variety of special functions such as a printing press and newsroom. The building originally was
home to the Seth Thomas Clock. The clock is now mounted on the roof of Woodburn Hall. An onion-
shaped dome tops Martin Hall today. Martin Hall is named for the first WVU president, Alexander
Martin.

Woodburn Hall, completed in 1876, is the centerpiece of Woodburn Circle, the oldest part of the
WVU campus. Elmer Forrest Jacobs, a Morgantown architect, designed the building, Jacobs was the
first West Virginian to be a member of the American Institute of Architects. The building is on the site
of the original grounds granted to the state after the Civil War and is the traditional center of campus
activities. The structure’s image, including the two towers built in 1900 and 1911, serve as icons for
the entire University. The building has served multiple functions in the education of WVU students
during the past 130 years and has hosted many special events, from inaugurations of the University
president and commencement exercises to visits by US presidents.

Chitwood Hall, 1893, was built as a result of an influx of money stemming from the Second Morrill
Act, a federal program that granted money to land-grant institutions to develop new programs. The
building features an arched main entrance with hand-carved details and an iron balcony. The façade of
the three-story building is decorated with equal brick quoins. Chitwood Hall was dedicated to WVU’s
chemistry and physics programs and housed a variety of public-service functions such as office space
for the Department of Commerce and state government programs. Chitwood Hall completes
Woodburn Circle and now is currently home to the Department of Foreign Languages.

Stewart Hall, 1902, originally served as the WVU library. Designed by Wilson Brothers & Company
in Philadelphia, this Richardson Romanesque structure is constructed of sandstone and features an
ornately arched façade, tower, and gargoyles on the façade. It is one of the best examples of this style
in the state of West Virginia. The building has been home to 15 WVU presidents, including Gene
Budig, later president of baseball’s American League, and Gordon Gee, later Chancellor of Brown
University, The Ohio State University, the University of Colorado, and Vanderbilt University.
Records indicate that the Olmstead firm provided landscaping plans for the building and its siting.

Purinton House, 1905, was built as the on-campus residence of the WVU president, and it served this
purpose until 1967 when it was converted to office space. This Neo-classical structure is executed in
limestone, a departure from the dominant red-brick construction of most downtown buildings. The
style, designed by Pennsylvania architect J. Charles Fulton, is reminiscent of the educational tradition
of old Virginia, with which WVU educators in the early 20th century identified. In 1911, President
William Howard Taft delivered a speech from the front porch of the home.

Oglebay Hall, 1918, was built to house the WVU agricultural sciences program. This long and
narrow Beaux Arts structure anchors the north section of the downtown campus. The name of the
building is engraved above the front entrance above four massive Roman Doric columns. In 1962, the
mast from the battleship USS West Virginia, sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the bell from
the armored cruiser of the same name were mounted in front of the building. The plaza of Oglebay
Hall is the site of numerous memorial ceremonies honoring veterans and members of the WVU
community.

Colson Hall, 1923, was built as the home of the College of Law and served this purpose until 1974
when the college was relocated to a new building on the Evansdale campus of WVU. The building
features the names of former U.S. Supreme Court justices engraved in the exterior below the roof line.
The Neo-Classical structure features a series of dormers along the roof and four massive pillars at its

entrance. Colson Hall served as the home of the WVU School of Law when Charles E. Price, the first
African-American law graduate from WVU (1949), completed his education at WVU. The WVU
College of Law is home of the fourth oldest Law Review in the nation, and it is among the earliest
legal education institutions to educate women.

Clark Hall has served as the home of the Department of Chemistry since its construction in 1925.
This Georgian-style structure includes more than 100 rooms, including a lecture hall seating over 300.
Dr. Clark served in the Department of Chemistry from 1902 to 1946, including serving as its chair and
overseeing the construction of its home building.

Elizabeth Moore Hall, 1928, is an excellent example of Georgian Revival architecture and one of the
finest examples of this style in the entire state. The structure has been essentially unaltered since its
construction. When it was built in the 1920s, it was dedicated to woman’s physical education and
housing for female students. The structure features a large physical activity space in the rear as well as
a swimming pool and dance floor. Its central interior space features a fireplace, French doors, and
balconies with cast-iron balustrades. The interior was designed by Mary Coggeshall and Annette
Jukes of New York City.

Named after the principal of the Woodburn Female Seminary, the institution that stood at the current
site of Woodburn Circle, E. Moore Hall long served as the center of activities for female students as a
social and educational structure. As coeducational activities displaced gender-specific programs, E.
Moore Hall has adapted to house a variety of different university functions, including physical
education outreach for local children, international studies programs, and arts events. E. Moore Hall’s
varied uses reflect the history of women and their increasingly prominent role in education at WVU
and in American higher education.

Wise Library, 1931, was built to accommodate the library needs of a growing university. The modern
Georgian structure was originally built as a six-story building, and WVU added four additional floors
of library stacks in the 1950s. The foyer of the original building features a large brass chandelier and
is finished in serpentenite with marble stairs leading to two reading rooms in the building’s wings.
Corridors on lower levels are finished in marble. A bust of Dante, sculpted by Peter Bazzanti and Son
of Florence in 1940, is prominently displayed in the west reading room.

Wise Library is home to the West Virginia Regional and History Collection, the finest source of West
Virginia-related materials in the nation. It is also home to the Dayton Collection, the WVU rare book
collection that includes original editions of Shakespeare’s folios, Mark Twain novels, and numerous
incunabula. The collection holds the records of the restored state of Virginia, the first official
government of West Virginia to exist immediately after the state’s withdrawal from Virginia during the
Civil War, and stewards the records and papers of the state’s early governors. With the rehabilitation
of the building in 2001, many of the prominent interior features of the original structure were restored
to their original purposes and appearance, including revealing many interior finishes hidden before the
rehabilitation.

White Hall, 1942, was built as the Mineral Industries Building, an important series of programs for a
state rich in coal, natural gas, glass manufacturing, and ceramics production. It currently is home to
the Department of Geography and Geology, the WVU Press, and the Office of Service Learning. One
of the most distinctive features of the building and of the entire downtown campus is the lecture hall
mural painted in 1940 by Robert Lepper, an artist and faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University,
to represent the prominence of manufacturing and industry in the state. The enormous mural is
considered the finest example of Machine Age Art in America. It has been reproduced in many books
and has even served as background in a major motion picture.

Landscapes, The downtown campus is an urban environment bisected by a two-lane thoroughfare
(University Avenue). In spite of limited green space, the downtown campus features several
prominent landscape features: Woodburn Circle, Oglebay Plaza, and the grounds surrounding E.
Moore Hall, Stewart Hall, and Wise Library. The landscape features several monuments to former
students, campus leaders, and war veterans. Landscape plans for Stewart Hall were designed by
Olmstead. Several large trees (sycamore, maple) adorn the campus and are highlights of the landscape
surrounding the 11 buildings identified in this proposal.