Austin Hall
Initial Visual Analysis
23 September 2012


Austin Hall, designed by American architect H.H. Richardson and built from 1881 to 1884 as the first structure expressly designed for the Harvard Law School, is full of contrasts. The first of these is the divergence that exists between the four facades: the front is welcoming and impressive, complete with its portico and tower, while the rear is hard to fully grasp and is symmetrical yet lacking in coherent structure; parts fly off in all direction. The two side facades are boring and barren, without windows or any ornament save for the irregularity of stone. While the front is fairly flat, the back  has a three-pronged appearance that more voluminous, does not impress as readly as the sun-splotched front. These two principal facades line up almost exactly with cardinal North and South. Its south face, through which entry is gained, is then of course always awash with light during daytime hours, even on the dreariest February day. The north, more irregularly designed face, remains darkened at all times. The effect is lunar; on the light side, one encounters the forest primeval and on the dark side, a desert from which there is no escaping a bleached-out existence.

Another readily apparent visual contradiction is that between what first meets the eye about the building and the appearance that the viewer eventually realizes the building actually has. Two examples of this dichotomy are in the shape of each level and in the number of segments or wings the building would appear to have from its exterior. With regard to the former, the initial observation is of non-linear, curved geometry– all the aspects that are so central to rendering the building Romanesque revival. In fact, the more one inspects the facades, the more one realizes that many of them are linear in appearance, with regular lines and edges as expected, particularly in the upper floors. With regard to the latter example, the building appears monolithic at first, especially from the perspective of the parking lot. In reality, four distinct segments are present. Like so many of the contradictions about Austin Hall, it is yet another that the viewer can realize only by undertaking careful consideration of the building as art, and not just as a structure that houses a purpose. Chief among these are the ornate carvings of the portico facade, just under the bands of pink Longmeadow sandstone.

The interior (see floorplan below right) eventually recapitulates the elaborate decoration of the facade, but not before another contradiction emerges- that between the impressive qualities of the exterior and the just-another-old-building feeling the visitor first gets upon reaching Austin's dark, carpeted foyer. The first floor is a series of winding hallways with a staircase on either wing and numerous classrooms emanating outward when least expected. Upon reaching the second floor, all of the cramped offices and hallways seem to be in the service of framing the real prize of Austin Hall- the massive Ames Courtroom, built to facilitate Dean Langdell's new style of teaching by case method to large lecture of indivduals.

A final contradiction is Austin's visual relationship between its motivation and actual appearance. As a relic of the late Victorian period when universities continued to broaden their focus away from divinity-related studies, Austin appears decidedly church-like in its Romanesque Revival appearance, with ornate semi-cylindrical towers protruding from its façade. Even without regard to its history, the Hall is meant to be sharply distinct from the law school buildings and quadrangle it both faces and guards. The viewer, if approaching from the South, sees Austin as perhaps the first representative of the shift away from the modern/Georgian mixture that embodies Harvard yard and the faculty of arts and sciences. While faintly resembling its Richardson-designed sibling to the southeast, Sever Hall, Austin Hall denotes a clean break with the architectural traditions expressed to its immediate South.