Do you know where Carnegie Hall is located? Maybe if I said
Malicky Center. Carnegie Hall and Philura Gould Baldwin Library were joined
together a little over a decade ago to create the Malicky Center.
Carnegie Hall has had quite an interesting history dating
back to the 1800s. Originally the building was used as a boarding hall and was
located near the first Baldwin University Campus (present day metro parks.) The
building itself was constructed on present day South Rocky River Road.
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Ladies Hall, as it was formerly known, had a front porch before it was relocated.
Photo Circa 1888
Carnegie Hall Photo File 01.7.1 Baldwin Wallace Archive |
The 1874-75 Baldwin University Directory mentions the
building, known as Ladies Hall and describes it as follows: “An elegant and commodious Boarding Hall for
ladies is in process of erection. This building, which is to consist of a
basement of stone, already erected, and two additional stories of brick, will
be pushed forward to completion as rappidly(sic) as the collection of the
subscriptions will justify.”
When the building was complete, it featured a unique front
porch. Under the porch were steps that went to the basement.
The big news came in 1888 when Baldwin University finally
sold the University’s land to the Cleveland Stone Company. The quarrying had
encroached to a point where it was not viable to stay at that location. The
news was included in the 1888 Baldwin University Directory:
“Within the past year
this campus was sold to the Cleveland Stone Company, along with some other
college quarry land, for the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, and this
amount was added to the permanent endowment fund of the University. But the
University does not give possession of the campus until the expiration of five
years from the date of the sale.
Within this period a
new campus of from twenty-five to fifty acres in extent will be selected and
new building erected
Ladies’ Hall, the finest
building owned by the University, is not located upon the campus and was not
included in this sale of property.”
Obviously when the campus moved to the current location
(North Campus), Ladies Hall was in an inconvenient location.
Luckily for Baldwin University, Steel Tycoon and Philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie donated money for a science hall to be built on campus. The
decision was made to move Ladies Hall to North Campus and turn it into a
Science Hall. As the legend goes, John Baldwin Jr. (John Baldwin’s son)
supervised the relocation of the hall and numbered each stone so that the
building could be reassembled exactly as it stood. The only casualty of the
move was the front porch.
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Science Lab in Carnegie Science Hall
Carnegie Hall Interior Photo File 01.7.3
Baldwin Wallace Archive |
The 1905-06 Baldwin University Directory now referred to the
newly named hall:
“The Carnegie Hall of
Science is just being completed. It is a commodious hall and will contain ample
room for the best of science work. The first floor contains a large lecture
room, and large well-lighted chemical and physical laboratories.
The chemical
laboratory occupies the entire north end and the physical laboratory the entire
south end of this floor. The second floor will contain recitation rooms for
mathematics and biology, the biological laboratory and a museum. One room of
the basement is to be used as a nature study laboratory.
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Science Lab in Carnegie Science Hall
Carnegie Hall Interior Photo File 01.7.3
Baldwin Wallace Archive
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The building is
provided with electric lights and is heated by steam. Ample provision is made
for the ventilation of the chemical laboratory.”
By the time of completion, the 1907-08 Baldwin University
Directory described the building:
“The Carnegie Science
Hall, the gift of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, is a three-story stone structure,
containing laboratories and recitation rooms for scientific work. Every modern convenience
is to be found in this building. The chemical Laboratory occupies the north end
and the Physical Laboratory the south end of the first floor. Between these two
and connecting with them is a lecture room capable of seating one hundred
students. This room is equipped for class demonstrations."
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Carnegie situated near Bagley Road. On the left is the
platform that contains the large piece of sandstone.
Carnegie Hall Photo File 01.7.2
Baldwin Wallace Archive
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An interesting aspect of the hall concerns the platform that
is located on Carnegie’s west side. The platform is said to contain “largest piece of prepared stone in the state,
weighs ten tons, is 14’ long by 10’ broad and 9” thick. It was quarried in
Berea and required specially made trucks to haul it to its place.”
