University of Minnesota Old Campus Historic District - Eddy Hall, 1886

Eddy Hall, 1886

Architect: LeRoy Buffington

Originally built as the Mechanic Arts building. The Mechanic Arts Building (Eddy Hall, 1886, 1903) is the oldest building within the district, as well as the oldest extant building on the Minneapolis Campus. It was constructed in 1886 according to designs by Minneapolis architect Leroy S. Buffington. Executed in the Queen Anne mode, the building is three stories in height on a high basement; a square tower at the northwest corner dominates the entry. The building is constructed of red brick with red sandstone trim. It is essentially rectangular in plan. Dominant features include the multi-gabled roof, high double-hung windows, panels of patterned brick, and iron cresting and a weather vane on the tower.

Erected at a cost of $30,000, an addition was made to the building in 1903 for an additional $10,000. The building originally housed the mathematics, drawing, civil-municipal-structural engineering departments, as well as testing laboratories. The Mechanic Arts Building has been renamed Eddy Hall in honor of Henry Turned Eddy, former professor of engineering and mathematics and later Dean of the Graduate School.