University Hall
- Architect
- Charles Bulfinch
- Year
- 1815
- Style
- Federal
- City
- Boston, MA
- Collections
- bulfinch’s bostonfederal boston
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University Hall was built between 1813 and 1815 in Harvard Yard to a design by Charles Bulfinch, Harvard class of 1781, using white granite likely cut to size at the Charlestown Prison. Construction cost $65,000, of which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts paid $53,000. It was built by the engineer Loammi Baldwin Jr. and originally held Harvard's dining commons, a library, scientific apparatus, and a chapel.
the building
Granite from Charlestown. The building is faced in white Chelmsford granite, likely cut to size at the Charlestown Prison, giving Harvard Yard's older brick buildings a new stone counterpoint when it went up between 1813 and 1815.
Twin symmetrical entrances. The long east and west facades are near-identical, each arranged symmetrically with two entrances flanked by pilasters, while the shorter north and south facades are plainer, marked only by rows of windows.
The College Commons. University Hall's first floor served as the College Commons, Harvard's dining hall, until 1849. The building also housed a library, philosophical (scientific) apparatus, and a chapel spanning its second and third floors.
the style
University Hall is a Federal-style building by Charles Bulfinch, rendered in cut granite rather than the brick or wood more common to the style, giving Harvard Yard a formal civic gravity.
More on Federalthe architect
Charles Bulfinch, among the first native-born American architects of note, designed University Hall for his own alma mater — he graduated from Harvard in the class of 1781. The building was engineered and built by Loammi Baldwin Jr., a noted early American engineer.
significance
University Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 for its architectural significance and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.