Law Building

The School of Law was established in 1896 [1] and a year later, "on the morning of September 15, 1897, two young men entered the front door of University Hall and went into a room on the door of which was a freshly painted sign, "The School of Law". They were Charles Churchill Pickett, 35, and George Enos Gardner, 33 and they were the whole faculty of the new School of Law". [2] . In 1900, the school officially became the College of Law. [3]

As it grew, the school called three buildings home before moving into its present quarters. From that founding day in 1897 the school spent the next 6 years in University Hall, before moving into Harker Hall in 1903. After outgrowing Harker Hall, it opened for business in Altgeld on October 13, 1927, [4] where it stayed until 1956. The southern entrances of both Harker Hall and Altgeld still bear signs naming them the Law building. [5]

Construction began in 1954 on a new $2,331,611 facility. [6] On April 11, 1956, the new Law Building was dedicated, located for the first time in South Campus. [7] Designed by A. M. Richardson and Ernest L. Stouffer and built by E. N. DeAtley, [8] the building is divided into two sections, representing its duality as both a center for education and a purveyor of scholarly research. The 1-story educational section of the building houses 5 classrooms, an auditorium, a student lounge, and a smoking corridor. The 2-story research side of the building contains student conference rooms, seminar rooms, faculty offices, and the library with 52 study carrels. [9]

While initial plans called for the building to have central air conditioning, this was dropped from the final construction award due to cost concerns. However, as construction was to begin, it was determined that sufficient money was available, and a $67,767 contract was awarded to F. R. Inskip and Company of Champaign. [10]

In 1957, the faculty of the College of Law and "officers of the College of Law Alumni Association" submitted a request to the board of Trustees to rename the building "Harno Hall", but this was not adopted. [11]

The College of Law never stopped growing, however, and by the early 1990's had once again outgrown its space. However, instead of moving to a new building this time, the existing building was renovated and expanded, [12] with work beginning on July 9, 1992 [13] and the rededication on October 21, 1994. [14] The renovation and addition was designed by O'Donnell, Wicklund, Pigozzi & Peterson, with Gilbane Building Company handling the general contracting. [15] The building features a number of donor-funded facilities, including the Albert E. Jenner, Jr., Memorial Law Library, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Pavilion [16], the Louis A. and Leon L. Lamet Memorial Faculty Wing, the Max L. Rowe Auditorium, the Edward and Mae Hon Career Services Center, the Huizenga Commons, and the James G. Thomas Lincoln-Douglas Debate Sculpture. [17]