Frieze Art @ Glatfelter Hall - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 50.073 W 077° 14.107
18S E 308742 N 4411784
There is beautiful, decorative trim over the front entrance to this Gettysburg College campus building as well as other frieze art which would be more appropriately called high relief.
Waymark Code: WMBZ96
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 07/07/2011
Views: 1
The frieze is arched and over the front entrance of this 1888 building. Beneath this and to the right, next to the steps that lead to the front entrance is also another frieze, the date stone. All of it is carved out of Hummelstown brownstone. I also faces, quite popular in these old, late 19th century buildings, around the upper parts of the building as well but they struck me more as relief than frieze.
This building with its deep red brick and gray stone creeping like ivy about the corners is one of the most unique structures to be found at on campus. The campus features a bell tower, town clock, the aforementioned ornate date carved in relief the beautiful cock tower soaring 143 feet into the sky, and all sorts of other detail. The tower is more war fortification than serviceable bell tower and was used as a look out during the Battle of Gettysburg.
Built in the Romanesque Revival style, the building's various renovations have left its exterior largely unchanged. Constructed of red brick on a stone foundation, Glatfelter Hall is richly trimmed in Hummelstown brownstone and has a slate roof. When new, the building housed virtually all the college's classrooms and offices, the college library, elegant quarters for two student literary societies, and a natural history museum. Five academic departments now occupy the building. A tall structure with a soaring tower 143 feet high, Glatfelter Hall continues to be one of the dominant features on the Gettysburg campus.
The Romanesque Revival style, popular in the U.S. from the 1870s to about 1900, drew upon the forms of the Romanesque, a style that dominated European architecture in the early medieval period. H.H. Richardson (1838-1886), a Boston architect and the most influential designer in this style, produced buildings marked by massive towers, turrets, and great rounded arches, normally executed in rough-cut stone. In its massing and in much of the decorative detail that emphasizes rich color contrasts, Glatfelter Hall reflects well the influence of Richardson's work.