Old Botany Building

One of the former tenants of the Old botany building, Labor Studies and Industrial relations, generously provided a web page [archived here] describing the history of the Old Botany Building where they note that the building was designed by the architect, F.L. Olds, in "the style of "Richardsonian Romanesque, " popularized by the influential nineteenth century Boston architect, Henry Hobson Richardson." The claim that old Botany is Richardsonian Romanesque is maintained by the campus archives in their list of campus landmarks. Even the landmark plaque out front repeats this "fact".

The comparative structures mentioned that exemplify the great work of Richardson are Trinity Church (Boston) and the Allegheny County Courthouse and Prison (Pittsburgh):

Allegheny Country Prison, Pittsburgh, PA (click for larger image)	Trinity Church, Boston, MA (click for larger image)

Comparison of Old Botany to either of these structures makes it plain that Olds' "adaptation" was considerable to say the least. Olds frequently is considered to have based many of his works on Richardsonian principles (see, for example, the 1889 Blair Building in Huntingdon, PA), but perhaps the best one can say today is that he generously outfitted his buildings with large semicircular windows - in this feature, he is richardsonian, but Old Botany is definitelynot Richardsonian in that it lacks the strong horizontal coursing in rusticated stone, the bi-color banding around the windows (typically a limestone/sandstone combination), and completely lacks the spires and pinnacles typical of the Richardsonian Romanesque.

The assignation of "Richardsonian Romanesque" seems to have come from a 1977 article in Town & Gown^[1] where Walton L. Lord, a professor of Art History at Penn State was quoted as saying that,

[Olds] drew his influences from Henry Hobson Richardson.... Richardson had adopted the eyelid dormer from medieval German architecture and used it in his design for the Crane Memorial Library in Qunicy, Massachusetts, which Olds may have visited before designing Old Botany. [p.63]

(Interestingly, Lord also mentioned that Old Botany was "a cheerful little thing, but I wouldn't call it pretty.") The Crane Library, seen at right, is more clearly typical Richardsonian Romanesque (RR) but still seems to have little to do, architecturally, with Old Botany. RR buildings tend to have a tan or gray masonry with red sandstone accents used for the prominent arches on the facade as well as window casings. Most RR buildings also feature prominent towers, or as in the Crane Library, at least the hint of one. And RR buildings feature steeply peaked roofs with cross-gables, not the hipped style used on Old Botany. Another (related) pair of excelent examples of buildings with strong RR influences are the Ontario Parliament Building, as well as the old building of Victoria College at the Univeristy of Toronto.

The Ontario Parliament Buildings, Toronto (click for larger image)	Old Victoria Colege, University of Toronto (click for larger image)

 

It is hoped that this short essay might start to correct the misattribution of Old Botany to the RR style. In fact, an architectural historian friend of mine said that it was not really 'of' any one style, but a pastiche of many. She called it "French Country Provincial" more than anything.

-- Steven A. Walton
Asst. Prof. of STS
Feb. 2004

References

[1] John P. Grant, "The Forgotten Landmark," Town&Gown vol. 12, no. 5 (May 1977), pp. 62-68.