Hascall Hall is a historic institutional building located on the campus of

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Madison County, New York Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 68,016. Its county seat is Wampsville. The county is named after James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, and was fir ...

. It was built in 1884 and is a two-story stone building with brick trim measuring 40 feet by 70 feet. An addition was completed in 1906. The original section features a hipped roof of

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

, eyebrow windows, and a large semicircular archway entrance. ''Note:'' This includes an
''Accompanying photograph''
/ref> It was added to 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 v ...

in 1973 as the Old Biology Hall. It shares its

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

architectural style with the Colgate Administration Building. Probably the most significant science student ever to attend classes in this building, referred to commonly as "Old Bio", was

Oswald Avery Oswald Theodore Avery Jr. (October 21, 1877 – February 20, 1955) was a Canadian-American physician and medical researcher. The major part of his career was spent at the Rockefeller Hospital in New York City. Avery was one of the first molecula ...

, class of 1900, who discovered that DNA was responsible for the transference of genetic information while later working on carefully executed experiments at the Rockefeller Institute on specimens of pneumonia found in victims of the 1918 flu outbreak. Although not well known for his work, he is credited with one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th century. Many people confuse Crick and Watson with the discovery of DNA, but in fact they discovered the helical structure and not the existence and purpose of DNA. After Olin hall was built at the end of the Colgate quadrangle for the biological sciences, "Old Bio" was used as an art studio in the 1970s. It was slated for demolition in 1975 but students protested around the rallying cry "Save Old Bio." T-shirts for protesters to wear during protests were printed in the "Old Bio" art studios. The protests were successful and the building was preserved. The interior was later renovated, converted back into small classrooms, and renamed Hascall Hall. The building is now home to Colgate's Philosophy department.

References

School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in New York (state) School buildings completed in 1884 Colgate University National Register of Historic Places in Madison County, New York {{MadisonCountyNY-NRHP-stub