The Suzzallo Library

English Version

Basic Information:

Name: The Suzzallo Library was named after Henry Suzzallo, president of the University of Washington (1915 - 1926), who was fired by the Board of Regents on October 4, 1926. This was the result of a two-year struggles between him and the Governor Roland Hill Hartley.

Architect: Charles H. Bebb and Carl Freylinghausen. Gould. Gould was the founder and first chair of the architecture program at the University of Washington. He worked closely with Suzzallo, and twenty-four days after Suzzallo’s dismissal, the UW Board of Regents called for his resignation.

Building Style: Collegiate Gothic

Background: Wishing to unite the newly developed lower campus (AYP) with the original buildings of the upper campus including Denny Hall, the Board of Regents for the University of Washington turned to local architects Carl F. Gould and Charles H. Bebb. Their proposal was accepted, and came to be called the 1915 Regents’ Plan. It specified a northeast-southwest axis on upper campus around which would be centered the University’s liberal arts departments. This axis joins the lower campus axis laid down during the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition at an open space left behind after a large temporary structure built for the fair was torn down. This space was later paved with a distinctive red brick and has come to be known as Red Square. Bebb&Gould’s plan also called for all future construction to adhere to a Collegiate Gothic style. This style is best exemplified on the University campus by the early wings of Suzzallo Library, the University’s central library.

Architectural Drawings:

University of Washington - Rendering, 1922:

Proposed Plan and Surrounding Buildings:

Proposed First Floor Plan:

Proposed Second Floor Plan:

East Elevation (Now attached to the Allen Library), Feb 1923:

West Elevation (Front Door facing the Red Square), Feb 1923:

North Elevation (Facing the Quad), Feb 1923:

South Elevation (Facing the Fountain), Feb 1923:

Interior Design (Glass), April 1925:

Information that can be found on the pamphlet is omitted.

Additional Info

Name on the doors (from left to right):

1. 冯道 (Feng Tao, family name in the front), 882-954. Perhaps to be consistent with the Chinese reading habit in history, the information should be read from right to left. Developed the earliest Woodblock printing technique.
   1. The symbols on the end of both sides are his name.
2. Johannes Gutenberg (1400*-1468), German inventor and craftsman, improved the movable-type printing press technique.
   1. The symbols on the end are suspected to be the coat of arms of the Gensfleisch family with a simplified style.
3. William Caxton (1422-1492), English merchant and printer. The first person to introduce a printing press into England, and the first English retailer of printed books.
   1. The symbols on the end are the printer’s mark of Caxton.
4. Aldus Manutius (1447*-1515), Italian printer and humanist. The founder of the Aldine Press, a printing office in Venice that issued celebrated Aldine editions of the classics. The first book was dated and printed in 1495 with his name.
   1. The symbols on the end are the imprint of Aldus Manutius. It’s a anchor with a dolphin wrapped around it.
5. Robert Estienne (1503-1559), printer in Paris. The proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his father Henri Estienne, the founder of the Estienne printing firm. Estienne published many classical texts as well as Greek and Latin translations of the Bible.
   1. The symbols on the end are suspected to be a man standing by an olive tree. More verification needed.
6. Lodewijk Elzevier (1540-1617), printer and the founder of the House of Elzevir
   1. The symbols on the end are the press mark found on the title page from Prof. Nicolaes Tulp’s book called Observacionum Medicarum, 1641.

Number with * indicates uncertainty

It appears that all those names are related to the history of books in different location and time.

Three Individuals above the entrance (From left to right):

These figures, created by sculptor Allan Clark from live models in his Tacoma studio, was fabricated in cast stone by the Pacific Stone Company of Seattle.

Thought:

Inspiration:

Mastery:

More questions

1. What happened on June 29, 1969? What happened to the campanile?
2. Where is the path to the roof top? This picture indicates that there should be one:
3. What’s the story behind those terra-cotta figures?
   1. The exterior of Suzzallo Library, completed in 1926, features eighteen terra-cotta figures in niches atop buttresses. These were selected by the UW faculty in 1923 to symbolize contributions to learning and culture. Allan Clark, a young sculptor from Tacoma, was commissioned to create the figures, which include Moses, Louis Pasteur, Dante, Shakespeare, Plato, Benjamin Franklin, Justinian, Sir Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Goethe, Herodotus, Adam Smith, Homer, Gutenberg, Beethoven, Darwin and Grotius. Is there any documentation left that shows why these people were chosen?
4. There are words like jurisprudence, letter-science on the facade of the library, what does these indicate?
   1. further investigation needed.
5. As demonstrated on the architectural drawings, places for the coat of arms from different universities around the globe had been prepared, yet what is the story behind the selection of those universities?
6. More to be discovered…