Annual architecture talk explores college-city relations

The oldest alumni visiting the Oberlin campus this weekend graduated from the College when the it and the city had already been around for almost 100 years. But what most alumni -Êand town dwellers - often underestimate is the significance of Oberlin's architecture to both the town and the college. This Sunday, Danforth Professor of History Geoffrey Blodgett plans to open up the idea to the community with his talk, entitled "Changing Architecture on the Oberlin Campus."

Blodgett has given the slide talk on Oberlin architecture several times before, and has started making it a Commencement Weekend tradition. "I start at the beginning with the oldest buildings, and finish with the most recent," he said. The neuroscience building additions and Stevenson Dining Hall are among Oberlin's newest buildings, both of which went under construction within the last decade.

Oberlin's architecture set high standards for itself from the near beginning, when Cass Gilbert was hired to design several new buildings for the College. His Finney Chapel, constructed at the turn of the century, now serves as a landmark on signs welcoming travelers to the city at either end of its limits. In a way, this type of iconographic association between the College's buildings setting a standard for the town is exactly what Blodgett focuses on in his talk.

"Oberlin is a plain village with a fast-growing college in the middle," Blodgett said. "In architectural terms, the town and the college are sort of interwoven, and then the differences emerge."

In his talk, Blodgett discusses in further detail the various aspects of Oberlin's architecture that contribute to the town's growth. For over a century, Oberlin's business districts have relied heavily on the success of the college and its developmental steps in architecture. As years went by, Blodgett said, "the College became a relatively prosperous as well as academically high place, and the town remained an Ohio village." He also explained that not half as many businesses would have decided to build foundations in Oberlin had the College not continued its growth: "The architectural reality is that without a broad business base, not a lot of people would have been interested in settling."

"Cass Gilbert has an important place in ongoing history in the College, and set a standard for architectural quality in the city," Blodgett said. "The College decided to maintain him as an architect [beyond Finney Chapel] and from that point on, the College has tried to maintain hiring quality architects with national reputations. Not a lot of universities can say the same."

Danforth Professor of History Geoffrey Blodgett gives his talk, "Changing Architecture on the Oberlin Campus," Sunday, May 24 at 10 a.m. in King 106.