Altgeld Hall

Urbana, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Altgeld Hall stands at 1409 West Green Street on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus as a Richardsonian Romanesque landmark completed in 1896–97. Designed by Nathan Ricker and James M. White of the university's architecture department during the governorship of John Peter Altgeld, the building originally served as the University Library before undergoing major expansions in 1914, 1919, 1926, and 1956. A distinctive University Chime installed in the bell tower in 1920 continues to mark the hours, half hours, and quarter hours, and plays a ten-minute concert each school day from 12:50–1:00 p.m. The building housed the College of Law from 1927 to 1955, then became home to the Department of Mathematics and Mathematics Library from 1955 onward. Officially named Altgeld Hall in 1941, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.