Boone Hall

Boone Hall (When it was the Administration Building)	Boone Hall (Present)

Historic Name(s): Administration Building (1917-50),
Arts Building (1950-62),
R. Clyde Ford Hall (1962-68),
Richard Gause Boone Hall (1968-present).

Date constructed: Built 1917. Dedicated 1918.

Architect: Smith, Hinchman, & Grylls, Detroit

Style of Architecture: Early 20th Century Neo-Classical. Emblematic of this style are the brickwork, white terra cotta belt course and the Doric columns, which mark the entrance.

Original Use: Administration and classroom building

Dates of renovation: Renovated 1999 after College of Education moved to Porter

Current Use: Extended Learning Program, World College/Academic Programs Abroad,Continuing Education, National Institute for Consumer Education, Workforce Education

History: Boone Hall, originally called the Administration Building was constructed for $265,000 in 1917. The Old Main Building had housed all administrative functions almost since the school opened. Now the college had outgrown the three-story building and it required a separate building for administrative functions. President McKenny sited the new building on the land formerly used by the conservatory, next door to the Old Main Building. Pease Auditorium had recently been completed in 1914 for the music department so the conservatory’s land could be put to another use.

The new building was designed to be a multipurpose building. During the McKenny years the college grew to national recognition and size. The college had to build to suit a wide variety of needs for space. The first floor housed administrative offices and the Modern Language Department. Upstairs, the drawing department had classrooms and studios, some lighted by the glass skylight on the north side of the building (opposite from the street side). In the basement, the Manual Training Department held class and the YMCA also had space.

Richard Gause Boone

For thirty years, the Administration Building was the administrative center for campus. In 1950, following the construction of the new administration building at Pierce Hall, Boone became the Arts Building. For several decades, both as the Art Building and as R. Clyde Ford Hall, the building contained the Department of Art, the Department of Industrial Education and Applied Arts, and University Art Gallery. In 1968, the building was renamed for Richard Gause Boone, the ninth president of the Normal College (1893-99). In 1992, the Art department moved to Sherzer, and Boone became the home of Continuing Education and other offices. Boone, like Welch has been preserved as an important part of the campus heritage. Careful adaptive reuse strategies have made it a useful part of daily life for many important offices on campus.