Historic
Tour > Virtual Tour > King Hall
King Hall
|
|
|
Foreground: King Hall
Background: Goodison
Hall
(now demolished)
|
King
Hall(Present)
|
Historic
Name(s):
Julia Anne King Hall
Date
constructed: 1939
Architect:
R. S. Gerganoff, of Ypsilanti
Style
of Architecture: PWA Modern
Original
Use: First Residence hall for women
Dates
of renovation: 1971 Renovated for
Music Department and Special Education Department.
Current
Use: Office of the Dean of Students,
Student Judicial Services, Center for Environmental
Information Technology and Applications (CEITA),
WEMU student radio, Women’s Center,
Women’s Commission.
History:
King Hall and its companion building Goodison
(now demolished) were among the first dormitories
built on Eastern Michigan’s campus.
According
to a brochure describing the new housing,
the buildings had been designed “so
that students may enjoy not only the modern
conveniences, but also the atmosphere of a
cultured home and a program of worthwhile
activities.” Photographs of the work
in process show that they were built with
Public Works Association (PWA) labor. The
PWA had been established as a method to bring
the unemployed back to work during the Great
Depression. Because his influence, president
John M. Munson was able to use the PWA labor
for a number of the necessary improvements
on campus. These architects and laborers were
instrumental in developing the brick and pale
stone style popular on the southern side of
the campus.
|
|
|
King
Hall’s PWA Modern Style Design
Details
|
These two dormitories,
constructed as women’s housing were designed
in the shape of two opposing “U’s”
enclosing a private courtyard for recreation,
similar to the one surviving in the Munson-Brown
Apartments. In the ground-breaking floor plans,
architects created the first two-room dormitory
suites in the state. Each suite included a bedroom
with an adjoining study. Furnishings included
a twin-sized maple bed for each student with
mattress, box spring, and pillow; a built in
dresser and closet; a bedside rug; and dressing
table. The study room contained a double desk
with a shelf for a typewriter or books, a bookcase,
study chair, and easy chair. Halls shared bathrooms
that included an electric hairdryer. Other convinces
included five “date parlors,” and
a laundry room with tubs, ironing boards and
clothes dryers.
The complex
included a cafeteria and dining room for meals.
Lunch was served cafeteria style but dinner
was a more elaborate affair with assigned
tables and a student hostess to over see the
meal at each one. The school attempted to
create a sense of gentility in their dormitories.
For all these amenities, room and board cost
$144 per semester, payable in two installments
of $72.00 each.
 |
|
Julia
Anne King
|
King Hall
was named for Julia Anne King,
former preceptress, or dean, of women at State
Normal (1881-86) and first head of the Department
of History and Social Science (1886-1913).
Miss King was known for her interest in the
development of students at Normal. Every Friday
afternoon, she gave “Conversations”
with female students in which she discussed
practical questions like dress, manners, and
religion. Later these conversations shifted
in character to the manner of sermons reminding
her listeners of how proper ladies should
behave. Colleges felt a moral imperative to
teach their students not only information
but also how to live better, more moral lives.
Today, King
no longer houses the young ladies who came
to study at Normal. In 1971 it was renovated
for Music Department creating space for offices,
classrooms, and practice rooms. The Special
Education department also used the building.
Later it became entirely devoted to office
space. Today it still it devoted to the needs
of students, housing the office of the Dean
of students and the campus Women’s Center.
|
Location
of King Hall (Click on the image for
a bigger view)
|
|
|
