1916 Carpenter Hall - Washington State University, Pullman, Washington - Photos Then and Now on Waymarking.com

View of the west side of Carpenter Hall on the Washington State University campus in 1916 and 2021 from the sidewalk in front of Dana Hall. Carpenter Hall was dedicated on June 9, 1915 and was occupied but left unfinished due to wartime restrictions until 1926. The building was designed by the first University architect and first chair of the Architecture Department, Rudolph Weaver and was built as a twin to Wilson-Short Hall located on the Glenn Terrell Friendship Mall (a short 0.25 mile walk from Carpenter Hall) as a way to save money on design costs. The building was originally known as the Mechanical Arts Building and was renamed on October 22, 1949 for H.V. Carpenter, the first dean of the College of Mechanic Arts and Engineering. Today the building houses the School of Design and Construction.

The west side of the building was supposed to have a grand front entrance on the second floor with a grand staircase facing Spokane Street. The idea of the staircase was later abandoned resulting in a "phantom" entrance. It is unknown exactly why the staircase was abandoned but suggested possibilities include long delays in construction (due to wartime building restrictions), lack of funds, the steep slope on the west side of the building making it impractical, or its orientation away from the rest of the campus (although an article in WSU insider notes that in the past it was typical for building on campus to be lined up to face downtown Pullman). A staircase can actually be seen in the historical photo. Today, the second story entrance is obscured by foliage. While on a WSU tour in 2004, I was told that the phantom entrance was due to the architect not taking the hill into account in their design (which is supposed to be ironic since it's the architecture building, hahaha), but this appears to be another campus myth as the plans for a staircase to this entrance are well documented.

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Year photo was taken: 1916

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