| Edward M. Crough Center for Architectural Studies |
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Name: Crough Center/Edward M. Crough Center for Architectural Studies. Originally the Gymnasium, sometimes called the Knights of Columbus Hall, commonly referred to as the Architecture Building. Named for Edward M. Crough Construction Management Co.
Date: Original construction 1919; renovated to serve School of Architecture and Planning in 1989 and 1997.
Architect: Murphy & Olmsted; renovation by Vlastimil Koubek & John Yanik.
Builder: Charles J. Cassidy
Permit: # 1431
Elevation: 194.81'
Use: School of Architecture and Planning, with offices, meeting space, studios and drafting rooms. Original use as an athletic facility including a lower level swimming pool and a ground floor gymnasium until 1985. There was an adjacent football stadium. The building may have also been designated as a Drill Hall.
Style: Early-20th-century modern utilitarian with late- 20th-century postmodern alterations.
Composition: A rectangular building with its main space covered by a large barrel vault and a front element with flat roof & symmetrical raised main entrance.
Size: Two stories plus basement with oversized drafting spaces under vault.
Gross square footage—42,132.
Net square footage—38,490.
Materials: Exterior is stucco over structural clay tile, which was originally the exterior finish.
Trim: Some banding with addition of free-standing facade elements creating a masonry trellis.
Roof: Front portion of building has a flat roof; main roof is a barrel vault, which originally had a standing seam metal covering, later composition replacement.
Windows: Originally wood, double-hung sash, generally arranged on front with triple composition. A large arched window is in the room above the main entrance and the barrel vaulted space has large arched windows on the ends.
Doors: Replacement doors are metal with a large number vof firedoors located on the building's sides. Front main entrance doors have glass panels. It appears from historic photographs that the original main entrance had wood doors with glass panels.
Note: Original gymnasium was the biggest in Washington with the gymnasium floor above a basement pool. As remodeled for the School of Architecture and Planning the exterior has been enhanced to support the original design by an architectural trellis and open arcaded scrim on the main facade. A semicircular entrance stair was built to complement the architecture and a coordinated landscape design was implemented. The interior was altered with the removal of the pool for mixed academic and drafting room uses. The front portion has been equipped with entrance spaces, offices and a second floor meeting room. The main space beneath the barrel vault includes the main floor and balcony open drafting spaces plus a central auditorium named for the late architect, Vlastamil Koubek.
Setting: The building faces the main Michigan Avenue campus entrance on axis (about a block away), and is set behind a symmetrical plaza with central walk to the entrance stairs between grass panels, each with 10 uniformly planted trees. Named Perini Plaza in 1990, it was dedicated to Dominick J. and R. Kathleen Perini.
Architecture: Crough Center has the unique aspect of a formally situated postmodern, adaptive-use structure surrounded by purpose-built academic buildings. Its original gymnasium function and relationship to adjacent stadium and athletic facilities are long gone. The interior spaces, now used as an architecture and planning school, are open, flowing and imaginatively situated to honor the original shape of the building. The buff stucco exterior respects the original design though additional decorative elements and the formal landscape go well beyond the utilitarian origins of the gymnasium.
History: The Knights of Columbus funded the building of a state-or-the-art gymnasium for The Catholic University of America early in its history. When built in 1919, it was reputed to be the largest gymnasium in Washington. The facility included a basement pool and an adjacent football stadium. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was given his LL.D. degree in the Gymnasium in 1933. As the center of the campus became more densely builtup in the second half of the 20th century, a new athletic complex was constructed at the north end of the campus. The conversion of the building for use as the School of Architecture and Planning proved to be a compatible adaptive use because of the long-span spaces provided by the giant barrel-vaulted roof.
Significance: The Gymnasium’s role in a campus that balanced spirit, mind and body in its goals made it an important element in that iconic national objective. As the biggest gymnasium in Washington, D.C., it achieved some significance in the early 20th century. Now with an adaptive educational continued use, Crough Center stands as an excellent example of good design for new use. The inclusion and relationship of the landscape elements of the redesign add to this significance as the building nears its centennial. Crough Center is a contributing building to the architectural and historic qualities of the campus.
Floor Plans
Last Revised 10-Dec-07 03:48 PM.
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