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Creation Date

1-1-1926

Description

Date Built - 1924
Dedication - Nov. 19, 1924
Date Razed - October 2005
Cost of construction - $85,000
Architect - Brinton B. Davis

Namesake - The building was named after Commodore Perry Snell (born 1869) of St. Petersburg, Fl. who was a former student of the Ogden College. "Mr. Snell has been a life-long friend of Western and has made many valuable contributions to the institution, which includes art collections and museum pieces now in the Kentucky Museum."(Snell Hall, 2-10-39) He was also a very successful real estate developer.

History - When the building was first opened, it was used by the Ogden College until 1928 when the college was "consolidated with Western." Located at the east of the building was an Italian Garden which was also made possible by a donation from Mr. Snell. The garden was added in 1929 and was designed by Henry Wright. The building was dedicated on Nov. 19, 1924. The building had recitation rooms, lab space and a 500 seat auditorium. The hall was used by the biology and agriculture departments.

In 2002, plans to raze the building began because it was would have been too expensive to remodel it. The building was put on the "Endangered Historic Places" list. The building was on the National Register of Historic Places. President Ransdall agreed that if enough money could be raised by The Ogden Foundation for renovations, then the building would be kept. However, the money was not raised and the building was torn down in order to make way for a new science building.

Description:

Snell Hall is a significant structure for several reasons. It represents the last tangible vestige of Ogden College, an institution founded in 1877 for the education of local white males. Many of this region’s outstanding businessmen, scientists, and government officials from the early and mid-twentieth century were Ogden graduates. In 1923 C. Perry Snell, a successful Florida land developer and Ogden graduate, offered a $20,000 challenge grant to local Ogden graduates to construct a new campus building. Nearly $30,000 of additional funds were donated to construct the building. Due to Snell’s generosity the building was named for him. . . .

The design of the building is Italian Renaissance Revival, although it is sometimes mistakenly noted as Colonial Revival. The building’s lovely arched windows are accentuated by the fenestration’s symmetry and the two-story arched windows on the transverse ends of the hallway act as windows on the second floor and doors on the first floor. Festoons and swags decorate the panels between the sections of these large windows. The arched front entrance has a small fanlight and sidelights, and above the arched window is a small decorative molding. The entrance is framed by two small limestone pilasters with Corinthian capitals. A soldier course of brick rests on the cut stone watertable and another soldier course acts as a cornice at the top of the building. The cornice also contains vertically placed bricks which appear as diamonds in alternating patterns. Directly below the cornice, small limestone shields were placed to variegate the masonry, and the architect also had panel designs inset below the second floor windows. The masonry is in the running-bond pattern. A hipped, Spanish tile roof crowns the building and accentuates the building’s Renaissance Revival styling. The building is also beautifully sited on a small rise and complemented by the remains of an Italianate garden designed by Henry Wright, a noted landscape architect. The beautiful Four Seasons statuary, also donated by Snell, grace the gardens. This is the only Italian Renaissance Revival building in Bowling Green available for public access; the others are all residences. The beauty of this building lies in the fact that an architect took a miserly building fund and designed a sound structure of grace and beauty.

Excerpted from Jeffrey, Jonathan. Snell Hall, 8/17/1994


Additions:

1959- the building was completely renovated

Park City Daily News:

"Acknowledge Western Kentucky University for its commitment to Snell Hall," advertisement, May 12, 1999
Baker, Matthew. "University Should Build Science Building, Keep Snell Hall," editorial, Nov. 16, 2000
"Famous Old School Concerned in Merger," photograph, Nov. 19, 1927
"Having Fun in BG Can Be inexpensive," Sept. 7, 1984
Jeffrey, Jonathan. "Save Building, Have Future With a Past," editorial, Nov. 30, 2000
Minor, Robyn. "Ogden Buildings Renovated," April 28, 1960
Riley, Jason. "$46.6 Million Science Project Part of WKU's Wish List," Sept. 14, 1999
"The Landmark Assoc. & the BG Preservation Board in Celebration of Historic Preservation Week
Weaver, LaMar. "Landscape Painting," photograph, May 3, 1989
White, Brian. "Snell Comes Down," Oct. 7, 2005
Wolfe, Charles. "Warren County Sites Named to List of Most Endangered Historic Places," Aug. 1, 2002

Poynter, Chris. "Group Issues List of Historic Places Endangered in State," Louisville Courier-Journal, Aug. 1, 2002

Keywords

Western Kentucky University

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