Eliot Hall was one of the first buildings to be constructed and was designed to function as the campus' primary academic building when the school first opened. It originally contained the administration office, lecture rooms and laboratories for the various fields of study, and in addition was also built to hold a museum, a library and a chapel. It held various departments including a biology, chemistry, physics and graphic design departments, and was named the Arts and Science Building. It was renamed Eliot Hall in 1935 in honor of Thomas Lamb Eliot, the founder of the Oregon Humane Society, the first minister of the First Unitarian Church in Portland, and the first president of Reed College's Board of Trustees until 1924. Having met Simeon Gannett Reed and his wife Amanda, Reed College's namesake, through his work as a minister, he wrote to the Reeds in 1887 with the idea of creating a liberal institution of arts and sciences. Although the Reeds passed away before the school was officially founded, Amanda left Eliot $2 million in her will, and plans for developing the school began in 1906. He approached architect A.E Doyle to help design the campus buildings, including Eliot Hall, under the name of the Arts and Science Building. After going through various plans and designs, he decided that the first few buildings including Eliot Hall would be built in the Collegiate Gothic style based around St. John's College in Oxford and Tudor Gothic style and began construction in 1912. Since the campus was set to open that September for the upcoming school year, Doyle only had roughly eight months to complete construction, and while most of the building was completed in time for the school's grand opening, the chapel was left unfinished and would not be completed until 1913. It was designated a Portland historical landmark in 1970.
Description
Doyle decided to use Tudor and Collegiate style for the building's design and drew up plans accordingly. The main materials chosen in the construction were red brick and limestone for their long lasting quality and to make the building more aesthetically pleasing. The brick was patterned in an English bond style and the lime stone was added to reinforce the building's structure. The mortar joints contain multicolored pea gravel added in for aesthetic purposes and provided the joints with extra strength. Most of the windows are oriel windows with wooden frames, although some have been remodeled to have metal frames instead, and although many of the windows are not arched, the ones for the chapel include Gothic arches. Below them are seals carved into the limestone to honor various universities. The roof itself is designed in a false gable style and is tiled with green tiles. The total cost of the construction was roughly $218,000. The building itself contains four floors and seven entrances. The main entrance was designed with a Tudor arch with limestone panels surrounding it. The first floor is actually a daylight basement, while the second floor serves as the main entrance to the building, the third floor which houses the chapel and various offices and the four floor which houses class rooms and offices. While the first and fourth floors consist of narrow halls and low ceilings, the second and third floors contain wider hallways containing polished concrete and wooden floors and higher ceilings.
Chapel
Located on the west side of the building on the third floor is the Chapel. Although classes began 1912 when the first classes begun, the construction for the chapel would not be completed until 1913. Several of the chapel's features were inspired by 10th century architecture. It contains a high ceiling, supported by wooden beams which several lamps hang from. The chairs, floor and most of the walls are oak. At one end of the Chapel is a stage, where the remnants of an old pipe organ rests. A member of Reed's Board of Trustees dedicated the organ to his wife after her death, although the organ no longer works. In addition to lectures, the chapel was also used to perform concerts, show movies and even host theatrical plays. Wedding ceremonies were also performed in the Chapel. Finally, just above one of the chapel doors on the southwest side of the building rests the college's seal, adorned with the griffin the flur-de-lis and Richmond rose. The Richmond rose were to pay tribute to the city of Portland, the city of roses, the Fleurs-de-lis were based off the ones found in Washington University, and to pay tribute to Thomas Eliot and his alma mater and the griffin was taken from the Reed family coat of arms and used to pay tribute to the College's namesake.
Remodeling
The building had gone through some remodeling after it was renamed Eliot Hall. The first change was the library, which was moved in 1930 and became its own separate building, while most of the science departments including the physics and biology departments were relocated in 1959 and 1949 respectively, while the chemistry department was relocated in 1966 and replaced with a print shop and calligraphy studio as part of the new graphic design program. The fourth floor and east entrance were remodeled in 1964, in which most of the offices and laboratories were removed.
