Object - Fabric "Incompatible Infill"

Postcard of Lincoln Institute

As my case study for compatible (or incompatible) infill I chose to study the quadrangle at Lincoln University, a historically black college in Jefferson City, Missouri. This was the first school named for President Abraham Lincoln and was created from the donations of black and white Civil War soldiers. The only institution in America founded by black American Civil War veterans. The school was founded in 1866; however, the buildings that form the nucleus of the campus were not built until the 1920’s and 1930’s after the institute became a university in 1921. The university is located just to the south of Highway 50 at the corner of Lafayette Street and Dunklin Street. The Lincoln University Hilltop Campus presents a remarkably unified appearance. The Georgian style buildings were designed and built over a period of a quarter of a century. Built in 1895, historic Memorial Hall was one of the most widely recognized buildings on the Jefferson City landscape. It was designed by Charles Opel, a self-taught local architect. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, historic Memorial Hall was the dominant academic building on the Lincoln campus. I housed both classrooms and faculty offices. Arguably, the most distinguishing feature of Memorial Hall was an auditorium named for Inman E. Page, the Lincoln president under whose administration the building was erected. Page Auditorium contained a ‘perspective’ stage. Perspective stages were “raked”, or slanted downward toward the audience rather than being flat like contemporary stages. The raked stage emerged during the middle ages but was rare by the beginning of the twentieth century. Distinguished speakers to appear in the auditorium were the great historian W.E.B. DuBois, and writer Carl Sandburg. The building fell into a state of disrepair in the 1960’s and was condemned in 1969. Despite efforts by faculty, students and alumni to save it, Memorial Hall was razed in August of 1972.

Stamper Hall

Schweich Hall

Stamper, Schweich and Foster Halls

Foster Hall

Historic Memorial Hall, razed 1972

New Memorial Hall

Founders Hall

Site Plan

Sketches

Diagrams

Building Location/Alignments

Historic vs Non-Historic

Massing

Fenestration/Style