
Richard Guy Wilson, professor emeritus of architectural history, gave an address in 1976 noting the 100 years of Brooks Hall. Some credit his talk with saving the building. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)
“Richard’s upcoming presentation will be a unique opportunity to hear from the same professor giving a major presentation about the same building, although separated by approximately 45 years,” Saathoff said. “Jefferson certainly designed the Academical Village and pavilions so that students could experience architecture’s historic value, and in making his presentation in the 1970s, Richard caused students and faculty and administration to have a greater appreciation for their environment and its history and importance.”
Brooks Hall was a gift to the University, the first building donated by an individual, Lewis Brooks of Rochester, New York. It was designed by John R. Thomas of Rochester – who also designed the Rochester Theological Seminary and Sibley Hall at the University of Rochester – as a natural history museum, to feature a collection created by professor Henry Ward, who collected artifacts from around the world and sold the collections as a business.
“The style of the building is what might be called French Second Empire, with the mansard roofs,” Wilson said. “At the same time, it has a certain amount of polychrome, the contrast between the red brick and all of the trim. When it was put up, it was very much up-to-date and this was the hot new stuff that was going on in this country.”