Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet: G

Gerlinger Hall, south elevation (all photos by me).

This is the next in my Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet series of blog posts, the focus of each being a landmark building here in Eugene. Many of these will be familiar to most who live here but there are likely to be a few buildings that are less so. My selection criteria for each will be threefold: 

1. The building must be of architectural interest, local importance, or historically significant.
2. The building must be extant so you or I can visit it in person. 
3. Each building’s name will begin with a particular letter of the alphabet, and I must select one (and only one) for each of the twenty-six letters. This is easier said than done for some letters, whereas for other characters there is a surfeit of worthy candidates (so I’ll be discriminating and explain my choice in those instances). 

This week’s selection begins with the letter G, for which my choice is Gerlinger Hall. 

Gerlinger Hall 

I find it challenging to precisely articulate why, but Gerlinger Hall is my favorite building on the University of Oregon campus. While it is unquestionably a noteworthy piece of architecture, it is likely a combination of its history, the particulars of its immediate context, as well as the virtues of its design that I find attractive. 

Named after Irene Hazard Gerlinger (the first woman on the University of Oregon Board of Regents, and the building’s primary champion and fundraiser), the building initially housed the Department of Physical Training for Women, the Department of Household Arts, the university infirmary, and various women’s organizations. 

The partnership of university architect Ellis F. Lawrence and William G. Holford designed Gerlinger Hall and its neighbors, Susan Campbell Hall and Hendricks Hall, in a Georgian Revival idiom, replete with symmetrically composed brick facades, classical elements, and white-trimmed windows and doorways. Gambrel roofs, dormers, towers, and chimneys considerably enrich their profiles. The university completed construction of the grouping 100 years ago, in 1921. Today the ensemble is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To the north, the trio frames the Women's Memorial Quadrangle and its iconic Pioneer Mother statue. Gerlinger’s classically proportioned east facade enfronts University Street to the east, while the tall windows of its south-facing sunporch overlook the broad expanse of the Gerlinger Field Green. Overall, Gerlinger Hall is highly expressive, more so than is typical of the Georgian Revival style. 

Perhaps the stark contrast in appearance between Gerlinger Hall and its modernist Annex (constructed in 1969 and located at the south edge of the Gerlinger Field Green) helps to explain why I like the old design so much. The older building displays a linked hierarchy of intermediate scales totally lacking in the Annex. The overall and localized symmetries, as well as the richness of Gerlinger’s Georgian Revival vocabulary, contribute to an intelligible sense of order. The plainness and simplicity of the Annex do not. 

I additionally find Gerlinger Hall appealing because it positively contributes to the shaping of the campus open spaces around it. It serves as a backdrop for both the Women’s Memorial Quadrangle and the Field Green, while forthrightly addressing University Street as befits its public functions. 

Inside, much of Gerlinger Hall remains as originally designed. Indeed, renovations over its long history have largely preserved its most notable original spaces, their character, and detailing.(1) Significant interiors include the sunporch, the Woodruff Gym (which at 5,664 square feet has capacity to seat up to 300 people in a banquet configuration), and the Alumni Lounge. The clarity of Gerlinger Hall’s internal organization contributes significantly to its architectural merit. According to historic accounts, Irene Gerlinger was greatly involved in the design and decoration of the building. 

Interior of the Woodruff Gym

Gerlinger Hall shares notoriety with other University of Oregon buildings (including Fenton Hall, Johnson Hall, and the Erb Memorial Union) as a principal setting for the low-brow comedy classic Animal House. In the movie, the building stands in for the fictional, women-only Emily Dickinson College, where the boys of Delta house go to pick up girls. Gerlinger’s front door and entrance foyer impeccably model the residence hall of an elite liberal arts women’s school. 

East (entrance) end of Gerlinger Hall facing University Street.

Notwithstanding its star turn in Animal House, Gerlinger Hall deserves top billing for its part in contributing significantly to the historic character of the University of Oregon campus. Lawrence & Holford’s exuberant interpretation of the Georgian Revival style rewards my every viewing of the building. 

(1)   These renovations include the adaptive reuse of Gerlinger’s lower level to house design studios for the University of Oregon’s Department of Architecture. My firm, Robertson/Sherwood/Architects, designed this renovation, which repurposed spaces that originally contained the swimming pool, a laundry, equipment storage, and a section of the women’s locker room.