Williams Field House (Williams Ice Rink)

Date

1963-present

Location

Knowlton Athletics Complex, 200 Woodland Street

Architects/Collaborators

Williams Ice Rink: Austin Company, Cleveland (contractor)
Adaptation to Williams Field House: Bostwick Design Partnership, Cleveland (architect); The Krill Company (contractor)

History

The Beatty B. Williams Field House was originally a simple, open-air structure for an ice rink, with an arched aluminum roof that faces north and south. It was connected on the east with the Jones Field House, demolished in 2009. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. donated funds for the original 1963 structure. The roof is supported by huge laminated wood arches that were brought from Oregon to Oberlin by train through California rather than the direct, more narow route through the Rockies. The rink offered an artificially cooled ice surface for intra-mural ice hockey, figure skating, and recreational skating for the College and the town; an adjoining strucure provided a sound system, warming rooms, restrooms, and a skate-sharpening shop.  The ice rink was converted to an enclosed, all-weather artificial turf field house and encompassed within the Knowlton Athletic Complex completed in 2014. The field house is Oberlin’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certified building.

Sources

Oberlin College Archives
        College General Records, Buildings and Dedications.
        Office of the Secretary Records.

Ohio Historic Inventory for Jones Field House by Elizabeth Schultz, Ohio State Historic Preservation Office, November 30, 2008, accessed from the Oberlin Heritage Center website, May 27, 2015.