Morrill Hall (Cornell University)
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Justin Morrill Hall, known almost exclusively as Morrill Hall, is an academic building of
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
on its
Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
campus. As of 2009 it houses the Departments of
Romance Studies Romance studies or Romance philology ( an, filolochía romanica; ca, filologia romànica; french: romanistique; eo, latinida filologio; it, filologia romanza; pt, filologia românica; ro, romanistică; es, filología románica) is an acade ...
, Russian Literature, and
Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
. The building is named in honor of
Justin Smith Morrill Justin Smith Morrill (April 14, 1810December 28, 1898) was an American politician and entrepreneur who represented Vermont in the United States House of Representatives (1855–1867) and United States Senate (1867–1898). He is most widely remem ...
, who as
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
from
Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
was the primary proponent of the
Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or se ...
of 1862 which greatly assisted the founding of Cornell University. Morrill Hall was declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1965. and  


History

Morrill Hall was the University's first newly constructed building, built at a cost of $70,111 and opening on October 7, 1868 as South University Building, or less formally, as South Hall. It is the southernmost of the three buildings which comprise the "Stone Row" which forms the west side of Cornell's Arts Quadrangle, all constructed of Ithaca
bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * felds ...
quarried from the base of Libe Slope. An early Cornell professor, Goldwin Smith, said dismissively of these three buildings that "nothing can redeem them but dynamite." While all three of these historic buildings remain standing, each has undergone periods of extensive renovation to overcome the limitations of their original structural designs. While the building primarily provides a home for language-related departments such as
Romance Studies Romance studies or Romance philology ( an, filolochía romanica; ca, filologia romànica; french: romanistique; eo, latinida filologio; it, filologia romanza; pt, filologia românica; ro, romanistică; es, filología románica) is an acade ...
, Russian Literature, and
Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
, Morrill Hall has previously served as the headquarters for a much broader variety of departments. Notably, the fourth floor of the building housed the Cornell Law School in its entirety when it first opened in 1887. Also, the Psychology Department was located in Morrill Hall until its current headquarters were established in Uris Hall, and the "university Co-Operative store, familiarly the 'Co-Op'" was located in the basement of Morrill during the early 20th century.


Architecture

The exterior architectural style of Morrill Hall has been alternatively described as
Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...
and
Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
. The structure was originally divided into three distinct sections: a southern wing containing student residential suites with room for sixty students; a central academic wing for classrooms, the
library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
, and an auditorium; and a northern wing containing offices. Originally, the sections were not interconnected, and moving from one to the other required exiting and re-entering the building. This segmented structure was designed as a safety feature, as a fire in one wing of the building would be less likely to spread to the other two sections of the structure. The partitions between the three segments of the building were demolished in 1897 as part of a large-scale renovation. The buildings comprising the Stone Row- Morrill Hall, McGraw Hall, and White Hall- all face westward toward Libe Slope, as the university originally intended to develop the slope area with further construction projects. Later construction efforts, however, focused on the area east of the three historical buildings, leaving them facing the "wrong way." Morrill Hall's current interior layout, following a 1973 remodeling, thus runs counter to the original exterior orientation. The structure's three primary entrances and main reception area all open to the eastern face of the building on the Arts Quadrangle, with only one of the original western entrances still in use. Thus, the exterior "front" of the building now serves functionally as the back of the building.


References

{{Cornell School buildings completed in 1866 National Historic Landmarks in New York (state) Cornell University buildings University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) 1866 establishments in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Tompkins County, New York