Old Main (Bethany College)
|
Old Main, Bethany College
|
|
Eastern front of Old Main
|
|
 
|
|
| Location | Bethany College campus, Bethany, West Virginia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°12′20.8″N 80°33′37.1″W / 40.205778°N 80.560306°WCoordinates: 40°12′20.8″N 80°33′37.1″W / 40.205778°N 80.560306°W |
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1858 |
| Architect | Walter & Wilson; James Keys Wilson |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival, Collegiate Gothic |
| NRHP Reference # | 70000652 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 25, 1970 |
| Designated NHL | June 21, 1990 |
Old Main, Bethany College is a historic building group on the Bethany College campus in West Virginia.
It was constructed from 1858–1871 on a design by architect James Keys Wilson with the firm of Walter & Wilson (with William Walter) and is an important surviving example of 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture. Wilson became a renowned architect in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Wilson's design was influenced by James Renwick, whose office he studied in, and may have been modeled after Renwick's Smithsonian Museum (constructed 1845–1847) design. Wilson was in partnership with William Walter, an older architect, at the time of Old Main's construction but the design was most likely Wilson's "because his training had occurred during the increasing vogue of the Gothic style".William Kimbrough Pendleton, a faculty member and vice-president of Bethany College also had a role and contributed his practical knowledge of architecture with the supervision of construction and has been credited with responsibility for its placement on the crest of the hill as well as suggesting the arcade (architecture) on the back of the building. He may also have been responsible for the installation of firewalls, which permitted it to survive the 1879 fire that destroyed Society Hall.
The building was constructed from 1858 and 1871 and "represents" the college's "pivotal historical role as the headquarters of Alexander Campbell (1788–1866), a principal founder of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)." The college "is the fountainhead institution of more than a hundred colleges and universities established in the United States by the church." It is "intimately linked to the Scots-Irish ethnic settlement of the American frontier," and "Old Main is one of the country's earliest intact large-scale examples of collegiate Gothic architecture."
A 1909 photo shows the coal smokestacks on the roofline.
...
Wikipedia