John W. Cook Hall, or Cook Hall, is a building that resembles a castle on the Quad of

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

. Cook Hall, named for the university's fourth president, has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

since the winter of 1986. Cook Hall is one of " Altgeld's castles": it was designed toward the end of the administration of Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld. Altgeld was a German native who favored Gothic Revival architecture. First proposed as a dormitory by Richard Edwards during his presidency at Illinois State University, the building was not approved until 1895. Opened in 1897, design elements for the building were changed, and its overall purpose shifted to that of a gymnasium. The building, called "Gymnasium" also held the University Library. Renamed "John Cook Hall" in 1936, it was eventually converted for other uses as larger gyms were constructed on campus. It currently houses the School of Music.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook Hall, John W. National Register of Historic Places in McLean County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Bloomington–Normal Illinois State University Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois

See also

References