Moravian Preservation Master Plan.indb - Society for College and ...

Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan
Figure 8-183. Comenius Hall, Harvey Memorial Library, view to
west (JMA 2008).
Figure 8-184. Comenius Hall, Harvey Memorial Library, view to
northeast (JMA 2008).
was furnished for use as a social and assembly hall
(Weinlick 1977:4,17-18). The new library balanced
the chapel at the opposite end of Comenius,
completing a symmetrical trio of impressive
campus buildings.
On Halloween 1913, a fire broke out in the freight
elevator shaft of Comenius and swiftly gutted the
three upper floors of dormitory rooms. The chapel
and library were spared, but the main building
was severely damaged. Within a year, Comenius
was reconstructed with some changes to make it
stronger and more fireproof. The original wood
staircase was replaced with a steel version. The
roof was supported by new steel trusses set on
four-story inner brick walls and steel columns, and
the halls were lined with fireproof cement flooring
(Weinlick 1977:23-24).
As time passed, certain functions within Comenius
were moved to newer buildings, and space inside it
was repurposed to meet changing needs. The science
facilities were moved to the new Memorial Hall in
1923. With the completion of Colonial Hall in 1930,
the second-floor dormitory rooms in Comenius
were converted to classroom and office space. A
round of renovations in the mid-1940s rebuilt this
second-floor space to increase capacity, converted
a first-floor student lounge to a classroom, and
relocated the lounge to the basement, where a new
cloakroom and bookstore were added. Following
the merger with the Moravian Seminary and
College for Women, the third floor of Comenius
was converted to four large classrooms in 1957. In
the early 1960s, the college administrative offices
in Comenius were moved to Colonial Hall and the
vacated office space became classrooms. Meanwhile,
the fourth-floor dormitory rooms were repurposed
as faculty offices, and Comenius ceased to function
as student housing. Harvey Library was outgrown
by 1960 and part of its collection was moved to a
new Library Annex in the former gymnasium, now
known as Monocacy Hall (Weinlick 1977:41,71-
72,109.
In the late 1960s, major changes occurred in the
Comenius complex. The Chapel was restored to
its original appearance in 1967. In 1968, the 1914
steel center stairway in Comenius was removed
and replaced by fireproof stairwells at either end of
the building. With the removal of the entire library
collection to the new Reeves Library in 1967, the
double-height library space of Harvey Library was
converted to classroom and office space. The first
floor held a semicircular lecture hall and offices,
and a newly built second floor housed additional
offices.
Signifi cance
Comenius Hall is the most prominent building on
Moravian’s North Main Street campus. Comenius
Hall and its neighbor, Zinzendorf Hall, are the
oldest of the buildings purposely constructed for
the Main Street campus of Moravian College and
Theological Seminary. Early in its history, Borhek
Memorial Chapel was added at the north end and
Harvey Memorial Library at the south end. The
three connected buildings, now known collectively
as Comenius Hall, form the center focal point of
the historic campus. Its imposing east façade, set
at the top of an expansive lawn, is the predominant
image for the Main Street campus. Its architecture
is a unique, distinctive, and creative interpretation
of both Romanesque Revival and Gothic Revival,
John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 8 • Historic Buildings • 232