Smith Hall Special Collections Research Center

Smith Hall, SU Photo & Imaging RS 8926

Plans Announced: June 12, 1900

Groundbreaking: November 1, 1900

Occupied: Winter 1902

Architect: Gaggin and Gaggin

Cost: $75,000

Funding: $75,000 donation from Lyman Cornelius Smith

Named for: Lyman C. Smith, typewriter pioneer and president of L.C. Smith & Brothers Typewriter Company; Board of Trustees, 1896-1910

Location: University Place

Materials: Ohio sandstone

Space: 4 stories, 132' by 56'

1981 Renovation: building shell

1981 Renovation Cost: $250,000

1992-1997 Renovations: metal, wood, plastic shops and large-model room installed in basement, third-floor studio created, exterior painted; clerestory windows repaired

Funding for 1992-1997 Renovations: Eric Anderson, class of 1997; Leonard Eisen, class of 1956; Gianfranco Zaccai, class of 1970; and David Chase, class of 1954

Notes: Originally called Lyman Cornelius Smith College of Applied Sciences. The site for this building was chosen with the idea that in the future other buildings would be needed to house all the equipment and students in Applied Science. It was located to make possible a quadrangle in the rear on which similar buildings would face. L.C. Smith paid for the grading for the grounds around the building and the planting of a number of trees. He also suggested a winding road from University Place to the Smith Hall to "increase the distance effect." In the fall of 1901 the Lyman C. Smith College of Applied Science formally entered its new home on campus, eventually offering degrees in civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering. When the building was first occupied the basement housed laboratories, machine shops were on the first floor, a library and class rooms were on the second, and offices and class rooms were on the third. The top floor consisted of a large drafting room. When Machinery Hall was erected in 1907 the first-floor machine shops were moved, and the space converted into offices, class rooms and drawing rooms. After a number of renovations, the Department of Design shop area was enlarged and new machinery added.