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Original etching, 46.5 x 50 cm. Signed and titled in pencil.Ladies Hall, one of the original three buildings on Purdue's West Lafayette campus, was a majestic, vibrant structure that served several purposes until its demolition in 1927.Like Purdue's two other original buildings -- Purdue Hall, a dormitory for men, and the Science Building, later known as the Pharmacy Building -- Ladies Hall dates to around 1871, shortly after the University's first trustees acquired the campus' needed land.Around that time, John Purdue and W.H. Brown, a Lafayette architect, traveled to several colleges on the East Coast to gather ideas for the design of the University's inaugural buildings. Purdue's first structures, as a result, were reminiscent of that period's distinctive academic architecture, and Ladies Hall was no different, according to Robert W. Topping's book, "A Century and Beyond: The History of Purdue University."Ladies Hall was a sprawling, two-story, red brick building with two towers and a porch over its entrance. Located near the present-day site of Stone Hall, its design was based on a building found on the campus of Amherst College in Massachusetts. Of the University's three original buildings, Ladies Hall was the most costly. Building it cost $40,000, according to Topping's book.When Ladies Hall was completed before the start of classes in fall 1874, it was known as Boarding Hall. It contained the University's primary dining room as well as the living quarters for Purdue's faculty and their families.It also housed the office of Abraham C. Shortridge, who was Purdue's second president, and the first to serve after classes on campus began. He succeeded Richard Owen, who was integral to Purdue's creation despite the fact that he served for less than two years.In the fall of 1875, Purdue admitted its first female students, and in 1875, it hired its first female faculty member, Sarah Allen Oren Haynes, assistant professor of mathematics and, later, professor of botany. In subsequent years, the building became known as Ladies Hall for its role as a women's dormitory.In 1887, Emma Montgomery McRae, professor of English literature, began her tenure at Purdue, and until 1912 she served as matron of Ladies Hall and counseled Purdue's young women on every conceivable subject, according to Topping's book.In addition to its role as a women's dormitory, the building briefly housed the nascent Home Economics Department, and before its demolition, it was also home to the Art Department. The latter use led some on campus to refer to the building as Art Hall., CA.Betty Lark-Horovitz (1894-1995) was an artist of international renown. She was commissioned to do etchings of several buildings at Purdue University in 1930. These buildings were Ladies Hall, The Old Dormitory, The Pharmacy Building, University Hall and the Mechanical Engineering Building. The etchings, one of which was in color, were issued in a limited edition. There were only 100 sets, each numbered and signed by the artist. Mr. W. H. Winterrowd, M. E., 1907 conceived of the idea of having the etchings done, and he underwrote the cost, and presented the entire 100 sets to Purdue University. The sets were to be sold and the entire income from their sale was to go to the University. They were sold at $100 per set. Betty was the wife of Dr. Karl Lark-Horovitz who was the head of the Department of Physics at Purdue from 1929 to the 1950s. After his death in 1958, she moved to Berkeley, CA.Ref. Edan Milton Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940," Third Edition, p. 547.Provenance: From the estate of the artist .
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