Rudolph Weaver

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Rudolph Weaver

Seagle Building, Gainesville
Personal information
Name Rudolph Weaver
Nationality American
Birth date April 17, 1880(1880-04-17)
Birth place Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Date of death November 10, 1944 (aged 64)
Place of death Gainesville, Florida
Work
Significant buildings Dauer Hall (Gainesville, Florida)

Landis Hall, Florida State University

Rudolph Weaver (April 17, 1880-November 10, 1944) was an American architect and university professor and administrator renowned for the educational and other buildings that he designed in Florida, Idaho and Washington.

[edit] Early life, work and education

Contents

Rudolph Weaver was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the son of Henry Weaver and his wife, Sara Jane Barnhart. Before college he worked as a bookbinder, printer and steelworker. He attended Pennsylvania State College for the year 1902-1903 and then went to Drexel Institute where he received a diploma in architecture in 1905, He continued his study of architecture at Columbia University, 1906-1907 and at the atelier of Henry Hornbostel of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, 1907. He later received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Drexel in 1919.

[edit] Career history and works

[edit] Illinois

From 1909-1911, Rudolph Weaver was an instructor in arcitecture at the University of Illinois.

[edit] Washington

From 1911 to 1923, he was the first chairman of the architecture department at what is now Washington State University in Pullman and was the first architect for the institution. He designed seven buildings, including:[1]

  • The Beef Barn, now the Lewis Alumni Centre, 1922[2]
  • Carpenter Hall, which was not finished until 1927.[3]
  • Community Hall. 1921[4]
  • McCroskey Hall, 1920[5][6]
  • President's House, 1912.
  • Stimson Hall, 1922[7][8]
  • Wilson Hall, 1917, first used, but not finished until later.[9]

[edit] Idaho

From 1923 to 1925 he held the same positions at the University of Idaho in Moscow, where he did the campus plan and in 1923 designed the Science Building, now Life Sciences South.[10][11]

[edit] Florida

From 1925 until he died in 1944 the was founding dean of University of Florida's College of Architecture. During that time he was also the architect for the Florida Board of Control, which governed the state's three institutions of higher education as well as the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. As board architect, Weaver succeeded William Augustus Edwards, the first architect to the board, and continued designing buildings in the Collegiate Gothic begun by Edwards. Among the buildings he designed are:

[edit] Gainesville

Dauer Hall, formerly the Florida Union
Dauer Hall, formerly the Florida Union
Old P. K. Yonge Laboratory School, now Norman Hall
Old P. K. Yonge Laboratory School, now Norman Hall
  • Other campus buildings on the National Register
  • Other campus buildings not on the National register:
    • Dairy Sciences Building, now Building 120, 1937[12]
  • Private buildings off campus include:
    • Chapel of the Incarnation - Episcopal Chapel House, 1522 West University Avenue[13]

[edit] St. Augustine

[edit] Tallahassee

[edit] FAMU

Florida College for Negroes (Florida A&M University)

[edit] FSU
Landis Hall on Landis Green. (Honors residence hall. Used by permission of Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.)
Landis Hall on Landis Green. (Honors residence hall. Used by permission of Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.)

Florida State College for Women (Florida State University): Campus buildings designed by Rudolph Weaver include:

  • Cawthon Hall, 1946-1948, built after Weaver's death, based on his drawings. It was the last Gothic building at FSU. His designs were followed so closely that even the FSCW stone relief at one entrance was not changed to use the new initials: FSU.[14][15]
  • Gilchrist Hall, 1926[16]
  • Landis Hall, 1939[17]
  • Longmire Alumni Building, 1938[18]

[edit] Marriage

On August 22, 1922, Rudolph Weaver married Alice Rossing Walden who was born on March 30, 1877.

[edit] Death

Rudolph Weaver died in Gainesville 1944 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery. His wife, Alice, died on July 26, 1960, and was buried next to him.[19]

[edit] Honors

Rudolph Weaver Hall at the University of Florida was named for him, but is now called Fine Arts Building A and houses the UF Architecture & Fine Arts Library.[20]. There is also a Weaver Residence Hall, which some UF sites say was named for him, while others say it was named for his wife, Martha. Since his wife was named Alice and survived him, it appears that the first version is correct.

[edit] References

  1. ^ History of Office of University Architect
  2. ^ Lewis Alumni Centre History
  3. ^ Washington State University buildings
  4. ^ Community Hall
  5. ^ McCroskey Hall
  6. ^ McCroskey Hall image
  7. ^ Stimson Hall home page
  8. ^ MASC Digital Collections: Stimson Hall
  9. ^ Washington State University buildings
  10. ^ University of Idaho buildings
  11. ^ University of Idaho image: Life Sciences South on the left
  12. ^ McCarthy, Kevin M., and Laurie, Murray D., Guide to the University of Florida and Gainesville, 1977, Sarasota: Pineapple Press, pp. 201-202
  13. ^ Chapel of the Incarnation - Episcopal Chapel website
  14. ^ LLT Building Projects
  15. ^ Sellers, Robin Jeanne, Femina Perfecta: The Genesis of Florida State University, 1995, Tallahassee, FSU Foundation, pp. 267-268.
  16. ^ Sellers, Robin Jeanne, Femina Perfecta: The Genesis of Florida State University, 1995, Tallahassee, FSU Foundation, pp. 116-118.
  17. ^ Sellers, Robin Jeanne, Femina Perfecta: The Genesis of Florida State University, 1995, Tallahassee, FSU Foundation, p. 214.
  18. ^ Sellers, Robin Jeanne, Femina Perfecta: The Genesis of Florida State University, 1995, Tallahassee, FSU Foundation, p. 217.
  19. ^ Alachua County Clerk's records
  20. ^ http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/afa/about/ UF Architecture & Fine Arts Library: A Profile]

[edit] External links