Prince Street Campus | Carnegie Laboratory |
Carnegie Laboratory from Rochester Public Library |
The Carnegie Laboratory was donated by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie and opened in the fall of 1911 and was also known as Carnegie Hall.. The building was renovated in 1930 for the study of geology, psychology, and sociology, and in 1944 the upper floors were converted for dormitory use by the College for Women. The building and the adjacent heating plant was sold to Peter Laiosa in 1955. A fire on January 27, 2015 severely damaged the structure and it was demolished.
References
1911 "New University
Building Ready," Democrat and Chronicle, August 7, 1911,
Page 9.
New Carnegie Laboratories provide ample quarters for new Department of of
Mechanical Engineering.
1927 Rochester,
the making of a university, by Jesse Leonard Rosenberger, with
an introduction by President Rush Rhees.
Page 280: In 1905 Andrew Carnegie made an offer to the university,
to give to it $100,000 for the erection and equipment of a building for
applied science, on condition that the university should raise another
$100,000, to be added to its endowment. President Rhees stated in his
report of June 1 of that year that this offer came through the good
offices of William R. Willcox, postmaster of New York, who had been for a
time a member of the class of 1888. According to an address to the
citizens of Rochester, this offer meant an invitation to the university to
branch out into a new field and to give, in addition to the course of
instruction being offered, full training for students in mechanical and
electrical engineering, or the scientific applications of power in modern
industry. This was a field of education which many young men of Rochester
and elsewhere were asking the university to enter. It was, moreover, a
field of education for which the city of Rochester was peculiarly adapted
because of its large and varied industries. The Carnegie Building, erected
under this offer, was completed in 1911.
1929 "University
Engineers' Shop Burns," Democrat and Chronicle, December 30,
1929, Page 15.
Basement machine shop in Carnegie Hall.
1944 "Growing
Prestige of Women's College Send Dorm Occupancy up 700 percent," The
Rochester Alumni-Alumnae Review, 23(1):8 (October-November 1944) | also cover
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Also in 1944, the Women's College has taken over Allton House in
University Avenue, opposite the Art Gallery, to serve as another temporary
dorm - the fifth of this type. Formerly used by Eastman School
students, the house can accommodate fifteen students.
1955 "Rezoning
of UR Buildings for Commercial Use Asked," Democrat and
Chronicle, October 18, 1855, Page 22.
Peter Laiosa purchases old heating plant and Carnegie Hall.
1977 History
of the University of Rochester, by Arthur J. May (on-line
version with footnotes)
Chapter 15, Widening Horizons
It was revealed on March 28, 1905, that the steel magnate, Andrew
Carnegie, would donate $100,000 for an applied science building on
condition that the U. of R. acquired an equal amount in endowment. William
R. Willcox, non-graduate 1888, a lawyer and politician of New York City
and an intimate of Carnegie, helped to obtain the offer. Notwithstanding
Carnegie's almost complete commitment to financing libraries, Willcox and
Rhees, working in double harness, managed to get the
promise of $100,000, which would be adequate not only to erect but also to
equip a building for both mechanical and electrical engineering, it was
optimistically supposed. A substantial start, in any event, could be made
in the direction of creating a full-fledged school of technology. The
President interpreted the Carnegie pledge as "primarily a mark of
friendship" for Willcox. Rhees met Carnegie for the first time in 1908 as
the guest of the manufacturer at his Skibo Castle in Scotland. 9
It was clear to Rhees that it would be an exceptionally hard task to match
the Carnegie offer, not least because two wealthy Rochester friends of the
college, George Eastman and Hiram W. Sibley, had just promised to finance
other University projects, as is explained later. Trustees estimated that
if alumni and friends living outside of Rochester contributed $30,000 to
the "Applied Science Fund," the rest could be secured within the Genesee
community itself. Great reliance was placed upon the graduates in the New
York City area, for whose information, primarily, a special brochure, "The
U. of R.: its Story," was prepared. In synopsis form, the pamphlet
reviewed the history of the institution (not accurate in every detail) and
it contained an attractive "Plan for Progress." A diagram of the college
grounds depicted the existing academic structures and spotted sites that
had already been selected for residence halls, an auditorium, an art
museum, and other buildings without designation. Photographs of university
buildings, homes of the fraternities among them, embellished the most
elaborate production on the University, that had yet been printed.
According to Rhees, without the Eastman Building the University
corporation would not have felt justified in seriously considering an
offer of Andrew Carnegie to contribute $100,000 for an applied science
building and in branching out into a new area of education. It was not
until 1909, four years after the Carnegie proposal, that planning of the
structure got underway; irritating delays were partly due to the Fabian
architect, Henry D. Whitfield, Carnegie's brother-in-law. Actual
construction began in the spring of 1910, Rhees, as was his wont,
overseeing every detail; the building was built of brown brick with stone
trimmings. In January, 1911, the facilities were partly occupied, though
the finishing touches were not applied for several months; greatly to the
disappointment of Rhees, Carnegie could not attend the opening ceremonies.
Especially planned for instruction in mechanical engineering, the building
had two floors for classroom purposes and abasement for laboratories; it
had space for up to one hundred and twenty students. Until 1930, this
structure served the needs of engineering education (certain rooms were
used by other departments) and subsequently it was converted into a
residence hall for women. In 1965 a professorship in physics was assigned
the name of Carnegie; "Carnegie's name," President W. Allen Wallis
remarked, "was part of the daily life of this University for nearly fifty
years, and we are eager to restore it."
Andrew Carnegie Wikipedia page
© 2021 Morris A. Pierce