Billings Library, University of Vermont [now Billings Student Center]--page 1 of two pages

H. H. Richardson
1883-85





SPECIAL THANKS to BRUCE HEWITT, who lives in Vermont and took all these pictures specifically for this website.


This library, now the student center at the a University of Vermont, was named for Frederick Billings, an alumnus of the university and later a lawyer in Northern California credited with saving the Northern Pacific Railroad from bankruptcy; Billings Montana was named for him. Billings donated a valuable collection of books to the University of Vermont and sponsored the building of the library.
Like the Crane Library in Quincy Massachusetts, designed a few years earlier, this library is Romanesque in style. Unlike some of Richardson's works, however, this is reddish brown sandstone, without contrasting trim.
 
 

The entrance

The library has an asymmetrical entrance with two turrets of different heights, a "Syrian arch," and Romanesque arches in the top gable and tallest tower turret. Carved stone ornament continues the medieval theme.
 


Continue to page 2.

Go to the Richardson Index.

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Click here to return to chronological index.

Click here to see the home page of Bluffton College.


© 2002 Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.

Page created by Mary Ann Sullivan