The 1980's School of Music

Schneider Hall shows the influence of European Modernism

Medieval-inspired Brigman Hall

Sixty-five years ago, when U of L was scattered in a handful of downtown buildings, the university was looking for a new home. It found it at what would have then been called the outskirts of town, the future Belknap Campus. With a half dozen or so buildings in which to set up shop, university officials went to task planning new quarters for new and developing fields of study. Since then, renowned architects have been commissioned to build what are now Louisville landmarks.

U of L came to inhabit its current home when the university purchased the former Louisville and Jefferson County Children’s Home (formerly known as the Louisville House of Refuge) in 1923. Ford, Gardiner, Gottschalk, and Jouett halls, Victorian-style structures built in the years following the Civil War, were part of the compound and remain in use today.

Many members of the university community had hoped to acquire a vacant piece of land on which to build, but President A.Y. Ford believed he lacked the resources to develop an entirely new campus. In 1925 the College of Arts and Sciences occupied the new site, which in 1927 was renamed the Belknap Campus.

That plot of land happened to be located near a burgeoning industrial park—a fact many would criticize. Morgan sees it as an asset. While many college campuses are completely isolated, U of L’s proximity to railroad tracks and factories gives the campus a distinctly urban feel.

"It’s interesting to look at how the campus has grown around industry," he says. "The railroad tracks mark a change of scenery. The industry lies right beyond them."

Morgan adds that the interior grounds help to balance the landscape and create something of a rural retreat in the middle of an urban center. "It’s good that they’ve kept most of the parking on the exterior of campus," he says. "I know students complain that they have to walk a long distance to get to class, but the wide, open spaces are really nice."

Morgan cites Speed Hall and Wyatt Hall (part of the Brandeis School of Law) as examples of what Belknap Campus as a whole would resemble, had the university carried out a 1936 master plan designed by New Hampshire architect Jens Fredrick Larson. He delivered Speed and Wyatt halls, classic Jeffersonian-style buildings that matched Grawemeyer Hall (which was designed by Allied Architects of Kentucky to resemble Thomas Jefferson’s rotunda at the University of Virginia). Due to the onset of World War II and the subsequent drought of money and students, Larson’s plan fell by the wayside. It was later dropped entirely due to financial constraints.

The influence of European Modernism, as well as Frank Lloyd Wright, is evident in several campus structures. Schneider Hall, a building Morgan refers to as "Eisenhower Modern" with its blue panels and exterior beams, echoes the cubic shapes found in factories of the 1920s. Likewise, the Natural Sciences Building—built by W.S. Arrasmith, also world renowned as a designer of Greyhound bus stations—draws on Wright’s famous prairie style.

Brigman Hall is another campus standout. Its twin towers and large, rounded windows are inspired by Medieval architecture. It’s no wonder the building resembles the old U of L School of Medicine at First and Chestnut Streets; both structures were designed by Clarke and Loomis, the firm also responsible for the J.B. Speed Art Museum.

From an architectural standpoint, says Morgan, the most important structure on campus is the Reynolds Building. Erected in 1912 by Detroit’s Albert Kahn—the world’s premier auto factory designer—for the Henry Ford Company, the building is a textbook example of early industrial architecture. It was later sold to the Packard Company, then Reynolds—an aluminum manufacturer—before the university purchased it. Morgan notes that the window awnings were added in part to cool the interior, but also as an advertisement for the company’s products. "It really fits into the industrial landscape of this area," he says. "It’s wonderful how it forms the end of Eastern Parkway."

Morgan finds architectural gems, both in function and facade, hidden in the most unlikely places—the snake-style bike stands that pepper the grounds and the parking garage with its eye-catching red trim and staircase over the railroad tracks. "You can see downtown from that vantage point," he explains. He is also fond of the view from the long hallway connecting the east and west wings of the Student Activities Center. "I like that you can stand in the middle and see the train pass below."

Over the last quarter of a century, Morgan has witnessed the campus’ most significant growth in its entire history. Of the newer structures, he praises the New Brutalism style of the Bingham Humanities Building and sees other 1980s-era buildings such as the schools of Music and Education and the College of Business and Public Administration as an aesthetic contrast to the older, more traditional styles on the opposite side of the campus. "The fact that there are different styles and different periods makes U of L an interesting campus," Morgan says. "The red brick on most buildings creates a kind of unity, even though the styles are different."

Morgan adds that Belknap Campus wouldn’t be the unique, eclectic place it is today, had a strict architectural plan such as Larson’s been followed. "It’s amazing that it looks so good," he says. "It was more by accident than by design."