Mackay Science Hall - University of Nevada Historic District - University of Nevada, Reno
N 39° 32.296 W 119° 48.824
11S E 258192 N 4380292
The Mackay Science Hall is currently home to the Geography Department and is one of 13 contributing buildings in the University of Nevada Historic District and located next to The Quad, a contributing structure.
Waymark Code: WMJZQ8
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 01/22/2014
Views: 2
Located on the University of Nevada, Reno campus next to The Quad, a contributing structure in this Historic District is the Mackay Science Building, erected in 1930. This building is one of 13 that are part of the University of Nevada Historic District.
The following verbiage comes from the University website that describes this building's history:
The Mackay Science Building was dedicated in 1930 to serve the Departments of Physics and Chemistry. The $425,000 building was a gift to the university from Clarence H. Mackay, who, along with his mother, had earlier donated the funding for the Mackay Mines Building. This Georgian-style structure, complete with Ionic pilasters, was designed by Reno architect Frederick De Longchamps. When it opened, Mackay Science was considered one of the most modern science teaching facilities in the West. The building today houses the Department of Geography, which has earned a reputation for its excellence in teaching. Over the years, four members of the geography faculty have earned the F. Donald Tibbitts Award, awarded each year to the University’s finest teacher.
There is a wonderful writeup on the biography of Clarence's life from the University of Nevada Reno's website here and an excerpt from the article regarding this building reads:
The last major donation that Clarence Mackay gave to the University before his death was the Mackay Science Hall. This was also his largest donation. The building was designed to house both the physics and chemistry departments, which had been underfunded and understaffed. Clarence knew that if either of the departments failed, there would be negative repercussions for both the University and ultimately his mining school. Therefore, he wanted to the two departments to be able to work together as a team to help each other with whatever they needed.
This building's architectural prominence in this part of the campus known as The Quad has been hampered by the growth of large trees that line the sidewalks in front of the building as well as other buildings in the area. There are black and white photos on the above link that will give the viewer a sense of the clean and stately look this building possessed in its early years.