Six of the Best: University Buildings

      Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh.

Ground was broken on the neo-gothic Cathedral of Learning in 1926, just as American Art Deco design was in its confident and majestic prime. While the Cathedral would work well in downtown Chicago or Midtown Manhattan (it stands at 163m), it serves as a teaching and administrative centre on the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus. Though I’m chiefly interested in a building’s exterior, the Cathedral makes this list in part because of its twenty-nine ‘Nationality Rooms’. Each of these teaching spaces reflects a particular culture that contributed to Pittsburgh’s development as a city; what I really like about the Nationality Rooms is that while each one remains unique in isolation, together they stand as an extraordinarily novel collection that conveys an important philosophic message.

Sackville Street Building, Manchester.

Perhaps the most imposing academic building in the world, the University of Manchester’s Sackville Street Building was completed in 1902 and served as the “Main Building” for UMIST until Manchester’s two leading universities merged in 2004. The twelve-story Sackville Street Building is still used by the University of Manchester but its future remains uncertain. UoM’s desire to become a ‘single-site’ university has rendered Sackville surplus to requirements. The building's impending redundancy is a terrible shame; it's much more dramatic and memorable than the University of Manchester’s John Owens Building, and it remains one of Britain’s most impressive university buildings. That Sackville is Grade II listed means that the structure is safe – we just need to hope that it doesn’t become another London Road Fire Station.

University Hall, Providence, RI

As Brown University’s first and oldest building, University Hall was named a U.S National Historic Landmark in 1962. Built in 1770, it was originally named College Edifice, and the agreed upon plan for the building read as follows: “[t]hat the house be one hundred and fifty feet long and forty-six feet wide, with a projection of ten feet on each side, (ten by thirty), and that it be four stories high”. Despite serving as a central component of one of America’s most prestigious universities, the most exciting historical anecdote about University Hall is that it was used during the War of Independence as barracks for both French soldiers and members of General Washington’s revolutionary army. Sadly, the building’s current role is markedly less interesting: it is now used primarily to house administrative offices, including the that for the President of Brown University. While its contemporary role may be somewhat mundane, University Hall remains a subtle, delightful, and quintessentially-New England structure; for me, at least, it remains Brown’s stand-out building. 

 Kings College Chapel, Cambridge.

Internationally renowned and universally adored, Kings College Chapel is one of the world’s finest existing examples of Gothic architecture. By far the oldest building on this list, the Chapel was constructed between 1446-1515 during the Wars of the Roses. Like Brown’s University Hall, Kings College Chapel also has a militaristic chapter in its history; during the civil war it was used as a training ground by Oliver Cromwell’s troops. With an exterior height of 94m, the Chapel is a towering spectacle and the quality and extent of the Chapel’s fan vaulting – completed in just three years by master-mason John Wastell - is unparalleled. All in all, Kings College Chapel is not only one of the world’s finest university buildings, it is one of the most magnificent structures on the planet. 

The Rotunda, Charlottesville, VA.

Among aficionados of neo-classical architecture, Thomas Jefferson - former U.S. President and author of the Declaration of Independence – is first and foremost considered an architect. Inspired by Rome’s Pantheon, Jefferson wished to design a structure for the University of Virginia that would represent “the authority of nature and power of reason”. The Rotunda is particularly significant in that it embodies a key aspect of Jeffersonian philosophy: it was built in place of a chapel to symbolise Jefferson’s belief in the separation between church and education. Less imposing than some of the other buildings on this list, the Rotunda stands at just 24m, but the building itself is truly magnificent and has gone on to inspire the construction of many other Rotunda-like buildings across America. It seems that the Rotunda has garnered the adulation it deserves: it will always stand as the centrepiece of Charlottesville’s UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Main Building Moscow State University, Moscow.

Moscow’s Seven Sisters remain one of the world’s finest architectural collections, and the Main Building at Moscow State University is perhaps the most grandiose of the set (it was the inspiration behind the 1980 Moscow Olympics logo). Upon its completion the triumphant Main Building was Europe’s tallest (240m) and it still stands as the world’s tallest educational building. The grandeur of Moscow State’s centrepiece doesn’t stop there, however: it contains a 1500-seat auditorium, 19 conference rooms, 140 classrooms, 6000 student rooms, a student club, a library, numerous scientific laboratories, an agronomy museum, a swimming pool, and various gymnastic halls - this building is gargantuan. But despite its impressive specifications, the history of Main Building began in a depressing manner. Commissioned by Joseph Stalin in 1949, the structure was built by an army of gulag inmates and German POWs who worked under the supervision of the KGB. Despite using slave-labour, Moscow State cost 2.6 billion rubbles to build – a figure higher than that set aside for the reconstruction of the entire city of Stalingrad.

Next Week...Six of the Best: Government Buildings.