McCormick Hall
Architects: Steinmann, Cain and White, NY 1965 reconstruction; Cram and Ferguson, Boston 1921
Date of Construction: 1921; additions in 1927, 1935, 1945; 1965 reconstruction; 1984-1989 expansion
Materials: brownstone, stucco
Floors: 2
Uses: Art museum, classrooms, lecture hall, offices
McCormick Hall was originally built in 1922 in an Italianate style that would fit in with the varied architecture of the campus. In 1965 McCormick Hall was redesigned under the supervising architect Douglas Orr in 1959 for a $53 million campaign. The architects Steinmann and Cain enlarged McCormick Hall and modernized the interior in conjunction with the modern art museum addition.
The additions all but engulfed the original building, but to retain continuity, Steinmann and Cain built in the same materials: brownstone and stucco. The architects, however, updated the design in order to be cohesive with the new modern design of the museum.
The entranceway is flanked by a long wing of alternating bays. Each bay protrudes slightly from the glass facade and are double height rectangles of brownstone. The pattern alternates with two thinner rectangles with two rectangles that double the smaller size. Each floor is marked by steel bands and relieves the stressed verticality that the brownstone rectangles imply. Above the wing and the entranceway are large clerestory windows. The entrance is made of all glass a steel. The ground level features double height windows that support a balcony and the clerestory windows.
The remaining sides of the building repeat the same facade patterning. There are some portions of the building that connect to older or newer renovations, here the walls are simple brownstone without any ornamentation or pattern.
“McCormick Hall”. Princeton University, An Interactive Campus History 1746-1996. Princeton University. n.d. Web. 6 April, 2011.
