This building, in turn, ceded its place as university library in 1974 and is now home to the Social Sciences Faculty. In the second tier of buildings from The Oval, this building is directly north of the centre of the oval.
The building has two main entrances, both regal and impressive. The front entry is framed by a pair of one and a half storey marble columns supporting a portico with a broken curved roofline and a decorative urn in the break. The ornate door frame is also marble with a bracketed keystone atop.
A contributing building to the University of Montana Historic District, more information on the building can be found on Page 4, Section 7 of the U of M
Continuation Sheet.
Social Science
Of the eight campus buildings constructed on the Carsley-Gilbert master plan, the library appropriately best expresses the Renaissance Revival style. Billings architects McIver and Cohagen designed this architectural gem with its Spanish tile roof, simple terra cotta ornamentation, and distinctive windows, symbolizing in form and function the heart of the University. In 1955, a four-story utilitarian addition and division of the lofty reading room on the second story into two floors expanded the space. A new library opened in 1974 and the building changed in function, but its stately presence remains the symbolic heart of campus.
From the NRHP Plaque