"Old Botany", built in 1887, is the oldest building on the Pennsylvania State University Campus whose exterior has not been altered over the years. In designing this small, functional college structure, the architect, F.L. Olds, adapted the style of "Richardsonian Romanesque, " popularized by the influential nineteenth century Boston architect, Henry Hobson Richardson. Among Richardson's great works are Trinity Church in Boston and the Allegheny County Prison in Pittsburgh.

 The influence of this style is apparent in Old Botany's appearance of solidity and mass, in its play of textures, and in its horizontal demarcations. Built in two stories, plus basement and attic, the first story is beveled limestone, and the second is red brick. The steep slate roof adds a third horizontal band. The mass of the roof is emphasized by two eyelid dormers and is crowned by a decorative terra cotta crest with curved ornamental ends.

 The first story openings in the facade consist of a recessed central entrance - - a glass-paneled double door framed by large single-paned panels and transoms - -and a large recessed window on either side. Each of these windows has a large single-paned central sash flanked by narrower single panes, each of the three parts topped by a small transom-line pane. On the second floor are aligned three pairs of similar one-over-one windows, each pair having a connecting sill. Arches of brick surmount all first and second-story windows and doors. Dormer windows echo the three-part division of the first-story window.

 A distinctive feature is the large semicircular window on the first floor of the East End of the building. This is designed as an enlargement of the facade first-story window, seven panes wide instead of three. Stone wedge shaped pieces frame the sides of the window arch from the sill up into the brickwork, where the brick fills in the arch above the central section.

 The rear of the building is a repetition of the facade, except for a window in place of the doorway. The West End still has the small door that originally led to an adjoining greenhouse, which extended beyond the rear of the building. The greenhouse was removed in 1940.