Johnson Hall - University of Oregon - Eugene, OR - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

JOHNSON HALL, facing N. on I3th St., the administration building, contains the central offices of the university, and of the Oregon State System of Higher Education. It also contains Guild Hall, in which dramatic productions are presented. The structure, of brick and ornamental stone, was erected in 1915, and perpetuates the name of John Wesley Johnson, the university's first president, who was a great Latin teacher during the school week and a great duck hunter on Saturday.

• 1915 - Built at a cost of $100,000, the Administration Building opened in 1915. It housed, in addition to administrative functions, the Condon Geological Collection, as well as the 200-seat Guild Theater. Architect William Christmas Knighton was Oregon's State Architect and responsible for several significant works in Oregon, including Deepwood, the historic home near Salem. Interior decorative details included a magnificent skylight which covered the entire center of building and was made of stained glass by the Povey Brothers of Portland. (The Povey Bros also designed the glass of First Church, downtown Eugene.) Terracotta details from this building include the UO Logo.
• 1918 - The building was named after UO president John Wesley Johnson in 1918.
• 1949 - Renovation eliminated Guild Theater whose function was replaced by the new University Theater (Robinson Theater at Villard Hall). Glass panels were dispersed; some were used at Erb Memorial Union.
• 1985 - Johnson Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
• 1998 - Renovation included restoration by Don Peting's historic preservation students of stained glass panels that once formed a skylight in the 1915 building. Panels can be seen in the boardroom of Johnson Hall and in a hallway of Lawrence Hall. ~source