PRESERVATION PLAN - Society for College and University Planning

firm. It would be another two decades before the second major period of expansion; this would
last for some ten years and was also entrusted to a single architectural firm. The second building
program began during the administration of J. Linwood Eisenberg [1917-34] and was completed
under his successor, Charles S. Miller [1934-40]. Watson notes: “In order to keep pace with the
expanding academic programs and enrollments, Slippery Rock had to enlarge its campus and its
physical facilities. Land purchases of 1923, 1925 and 1929 brought the total acreage of the campus
to 150 acres . . . . In 1929, Dr. Eisenberg launched a major building program.” 14 Subsequently,
President Miller applied for $905,000 from $64 million building construction funds made available
under the Pennsylvania Authority Act of 1935. 15 Seven major campus buildings were erected
between 1929 and 1939; all were designed by W. G. Eckles Co. of New Castle, Pa.
William George Eckles (1867-1932) founded his firm in New Castle, Pa., in 1898. He provided
diverse architectural design services, largely residences, churches, and commercial buildings. He
began to design secondary schools and was recognized as an accomplished school architect, of
collegiate as well as secondary school buildings. 16 The Education Center (1929; now McKay
Education Center) 17 and East Gymnasium (1929-30) 18 were designed and erected during his tenure.
Robert A. Eckles (1898-1968) succeeded his father as head of the firm in 1932. Robert Eckles
attended Amherst College 1916-18, received his B.S. degree from M.I.T. in 1921, and joined the
family firm in 1922. Robert Eckles led the firm until 1968 19 and he would logically have overseen
the design and construction of the Secondary Laboratory School (1937; an addition to the Education
Center), 20 Strain Science Building (1937-38), 21 Maltby Library (1937-39), 22 President’s Residence
(1937-39), 23 and North Hall (1938-39). 24
Although Eckles & Co. were well-known during the 1930s for their Collegiate Gothic, their
1937-39 Slippery Rock buildings were derived from a different design vocabulary: “Designed in
Georgian and early colonial architectural styles, these buildings gave the Slippery Rock campus the
quiet dignified appearance of many of the colleges of the East.” 25
Two older buildings acquired by Slippery Rock should be mentioned. Hickory Schoolhouse
(1860) was moved to the campus in 1989 and later relocated. The residence of faculty member
Howard Headland, erected in 1928, was purchased by Slippery Rock. It was renamed Lowry Center
in 1998 in honor of Dr. Robert A. Lowry, Acting President, 1968.
–
Bibliography
Watson, Robert J. Slippery Rock State College: The Legend Behind the Name. Slippery Rock State College Alumni
Association, 1982.
Donnelly, Lu, David Brumble, and Franklin Toker. “Slippery Rock University.” The Buildings of Western Pennsylvania
(Society of Architectural Historians, forthcoming).
“S. W. Foulk & Son.” New Castle, Pennsylvania and Vicinity at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century. Buffalo, NY: W. H.
Seward & Co., 1904: 14
S. W. Foulk obituary. New Castle News, 13 October 1932
Pitluga, Kurt W. “S. W. Foulk: A Lost Victorian Master.” Unpublished paper.
“Mr. Eckles and School Architecture.” The Ohio Architect, Engineer & Builder (October 1915): 11-20.
Withey, Henry F., and Elsie R. Withey. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles, New Age,
1956: 188-189.
(Footnotes)
1Robert J. Watson, Slippery Rock State College: The Legend Behind the Name (Slippery Rock State College Alumni
Association, 1982), 2-5. Slippery Rock Normal School became state-run in 1915, was renamed State Teachers College at
Slippery Rock in 1927, Slippery Rock State College in 1960, and Slippery Rock University in 1982.
2 North Hall, South Hall, and the Chapel were originally wooden buildings [Watson, 14]. In 1894, North Hall was enlarged
and remodeled from an “L-shaped building into one resembling an E and by adding a Norman, a Gothic and a Turkish tower,
the hall now had 149 rooms which could house 300 students” [Watson, 18]. North Hall burned October 16, 1937 [Watson,
77]. South Hall burned in May 1895: “construction began in the summer of 1895. By the following year, a new brick,
12 SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY