Clapp/Langley/Crawford Complex - Langley Hall

Langley Hall is the second unit of the natural science quadrangle (along with Clapp Hall and Crawford Hall). Langley Hall is named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, a former University of Pittsburgh professor and renown astronomer and aviation pioneer.

Langley Hall's construction was begun in 1959 made possible by a $2.5 million grant ($19.9 million today) from the General State Authority. Completed in 1961 in the International Style, Langley Hall was originally the home of the Department of Geology, Department of Psychology, and the Department of Biology, (now part of the Department of Biological Sciences).. It was originally conceived as an annex to Clapp Hall, to which it is connected on the south side. For this reason, the room numbers in Langley Hall all begin with the letter 'A' to denote 'Annex.' The Department of Biological Sciences occupies the First, Second, Third, and Fifth floors of Langley Hall. Crawford Hall, home of the Department of Neuroscience, is connect to Langley Hall's north side, together forming the 3-building CLC complex that is devoted to the biological sciences, housing both biological sciences and neuroscience lectures and research laboratories. A research greenhouse composed of four bays is located on Langley Hall's sixth floor.

Langley Hall also contains Langley Library that is the biology, neuroscience, psychology, and life sciences unit of the University Library System at Pitt. The library holds more than 77,000 bound volumes on site, and maintains over 650 current journal subscriptions. Several prominent journals are also available on the World Wide Web. The library holdings range from volumes, dissertations, monographs, and journals in every topic in the biological sciences, covering both basic and advanced topics. The library conducts courses on using computers for research/literature searches in the biological sciences and has 13 computers for this purpose. More than 130,000 patrons enter the library each year, checking out some 24,000 items. Langley Library has a capacity of 102, and is typically open 75.5 hours each week.

On January 20, 1977, two women were killed and several people injured in a gas explosion that destroyed part of Langley Hall. Coroner Cyril Wecht, after a two-day inquest, ruled the explosion an accident. Langley Hall was rebuilt and then reopened in 1982.

In 2011 a $2 million greenhouse was opened on the sixth-level roof Langley Hall where it connects to Clapp Hall. The greenhouse features two zones with mobile plant benches and a computerized environmental control system, including a fogging system, cooling units, motorized retractable shades and heat retention roof curtains, and motor controlled light fixtures of multiple types to facilitate the regulation of temperature, humidity, and light. In addition, renovation plans were announced that include the installation of a biosafety level-3 facility that incorporates what are perhaps first in the nation features, such an observation room and monitoring cameras, to facilitate undergraduate learning.