Waldschmidt Hall

Waldschmidt Hall, originally known as West Hall, is the oldest building on the campus of the University of Portland in Oregon. Built of brick in the Romanesque Revival style in 1891, the five-story structure was designed by the architects Frederick Manson White, Richard H. Martin Jr., and William F. McCaw, and its form recalls Sever Hall at Harvard University. Its hallmarks are the cast-iron decorations on the facade and the wide, domed entrance. Wood dominates the interior, with cherry paneling, oak floorboards, and a massive wooden staircase. The building's history is closely tied to the founding of Portland University by the Methodist Episcopal Church, which had to leave the campus in 1896 because of financial difficulties. In 1901, Archbishop Alexander Christie purchased the campus for the Catholic Columbia University, which was renamed the University of Portland in 1935. After an extensive renovation in the early 1990s that preserved its historic appearance and made the structure earthquake-resistant, the building received its current name in 1992 in honor of former president Paul Waldschmidt. Today, the landmark building houses the university's administrative offices and lecture halls.