Unraveling Tucker Hall
Bryan Callaway | Staff Writer
Last Updated:4/22/09 Section: Nooks & Crannies
Old Campus is a collection of College gems. It is a collection of some of the most beautiful buildings and sites on campus. From the grand hotel that is Barrett to the stately Blair Hall, Old Campus is something of a throwback to a time in which grandeur was the status quo. Then there is Tucker Hall. From its infamous ghosts to its infamous smell, Tucker Hall's juxtaposition on Old Campus bears a striking similarity to Beauty and the Beast, for reasons that are all too apparent. However, there is much to be said for "inner beauty", and having just recently celebrated its centennial, it is this "inner beauty" that makes Tucker Hall exquisite.
Originally conceived to be the Library of the College, Tucker Hall was the brainchild of Lyon Tyler, the seventeenth President of the College. It is suspected that Tyler initially conceived the idea for the building in 1905, when he approached the Carnegie Foundation with a grant proposal. The Foundation accepted the proposal, on the condition that the College match the Foundation's $20,000 grant with an endowment fund to cover the building's maintenance costs. Construction of the original building, which was a simple 80 by 30 foot rectangular space, began on April 13, 1908, in commemoration of Thomas Jefferson's birthday, with the laying of the cornerstone by the principal donor of the College's matching grant, George Clinton Batchellor. This original library, which consisted of a mere 12,000 volumes was completed in November that same year. However, for reasons that are still not clear, the Library would not officially open to the public until May 14, 1909. Although the building would be put to use by early March 1909, correspondence sent from According to correspondence sent between by Robert Hughes, a College alumnus and member of the Board of Visitors, a likely cause of this delay may have been due to the College delaying its official "acceptance" of the building from the contractors.
Over the course of the next two decades, the Library, as it was called, would take the shape of the Tucker Hall that we know today. In the 1920's alone, the building would undergo two separate additions, with the final one being completed in 1929. These renovations were significant in not only did they greatly increase the library's holdings, from 12,000 to 350,000 titles, but also helped to lay the groundwork for the library's role as the College's archive, which would begin to take shape in the early 1940's.
Originally conceived to be the Library of the College, Tucker Hall was the brainchild of Lyon Tyler, the seventeenth President of the College. It is suspected that Tyler initially conceived the idea for the building in 1905, when he approached the Carnegie Foundation with a grant proposal. The Foundation accepted the proposal, on the condition that the College match the Foundation's $20,000 grant with an endowment fund to cover the building's maintenance costs. Construction of the original building, which was a simple 80 by 30 foot rectangular space, began on April 13, 1908, in commemoration of Thomas Jefferson's birthday, with the laying of the cornerstone by the principal donor of the College's matching grant, George Clinton Batchellor. This original library, which consisted of a mere 12,000 volumes was completed in November that same year. However, for reasons that are still not clear, the Library would not officially open to the public until May 14, 1909. Although the building would be put to use by early March 1909, correspondence sent from According to correspondence sent between by Robert Hughes, a College alumnus and member of the Board of Visitors, a likely cause of this delay may have been due to the College delaying its official "acceptance" of the building from the contractors.
Over the course of the next two decades, the Library, as it was called, would take the shape of the Tucker Hall that we know today. In the 1920's alone, the building would undergo two separate additions, with the final one being completed in 1929. These renovations were significant in not only did they greatly increase the library's holdings, from 12,000 to 350,000 titles, but also helped to lay the groundwork for the library's role as the College's archive, which would begin to take shape in the early 1940's.
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