Severance Hall

Date

1901-present

Location

120 West Lorain Street

Architects/Collaborators

Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869-1926), Chicago (architect)
George Feick, Sandusky, OH (contractor)

Style

Romanesque

History

Severance Chemical Laboratory, now Severance Hall, was the gift of Louis H. Severance, of Cleveland. The construction was begun in 1899, and the cornerstone was laid May 31, 1900. It was dedicated with appropriate exercises September 26, 1901. Mr. Severance also provided an endowment for the Chair of Chemistry, and a laboratory fund for the Department of Chemistry. Severance Hall, as it is called now, is constructed of Ohio sandstone, and is located at the northwest corner of Lorain and Professor Streets. It consists of two wings at right angels to each other, each 72 feet long and two stories in height, connected by a tower 27 feet wide and three stories in height. The first floor contained offices and laboratories for the head of the department of Chemistry, a storeroom, a large lecture room with a seating capacity of one hundred and fifty-four, balance rooms, and a laboratory for Quantitative Analysis. The second floor contained the main laboratories for Organic Chemistry, a library, an instructors’ room, and smaller rooms for various purposes. Severance Hall now houses the offices, classrooms, and laboratories of the college’s Psychology Department. In addition, there are state-of-the-art laboratories for developmental and social psychology, visual cognition, music cognition, and psychological physiology, as well as a computer lab. It was listed by the City of Oberlin as an Oberlin City Landmark in September 1975.

For another building by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, see Barrows House, also opened in 1901.

Sources

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

Ohio Historic Inventory for Severance Hall by M. Fedelchak-Harley and L. Previll, Ohio State Historic Preservation Office, September 30, 2000, accessed from the Oberlin Heritage Center website, May 27, 2015.