History of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Franklin Hall
1883 - 1890

Pictures

"In 1883 Franklin Hall was completed and both Chemistry and Physics moved into the new building. That Franklin Hall was authorized and built at a very critical period in the history of the University when it was doubtful that Cornell could survive financially attests the recognition of the growing importance of science teaching in the university.

The plans for Franklin Hall were drawn by the Reverend Charles Babcock, Professor of Architecture. The basement and the first floor were assigned to Physics; Chemistry was housed on the second and third floors. On the second floor there were two rooms devoted to mineralogy, with an adjoining office and private laboratory for the Professor of General Chemistry and Mineralogy, a small room for an assistant, a stock room, a library room, a large lecture room, a small lecture room, and a long narrow museum running along the entire eastern side of the building. On the third floor were a large photographing room with dark room, large laboratories for qualitative analysis and for quantitative analysis, two smaller special laboratories, a cloak room for men and one for women, a stock room, a combined balance room and library, the office and private laboratory for Professor Caldwell, and a glass-walled passageway used by him as a balance room and to house special instruments.

An unusually large space was assigned to mineralogy. The room for photography was also disproportionally large. There was no course of instruction in photography, but in this room some research in this field was done and also the lantern slides used in teaching were prepared. There was no provision for laboratory work in organic chemistry or in introductory chemistry. In 1673, Chester H. Wing was made Non-Resident Professor of Organic Chemistry but organic chemistry was taught by lectures only. One of several reasons for the omission of a laboratory for organic chemistry appears to have been Dr. Caldwells fear of the fire risk involved by placing such laboratory on an upper floor of a building. Organic chemistry was then a relatively new field of not yet fully appreciated importance. The chemical glassware then available was of uncertain resistance to impact and thermal shock. Professor Caldwells apprehensions had some justification. The failure to provide space for laboratory instruction in General Chemistry also had some basis. Most of the work in more advanced courses consisted of analysis. The primary functions of laboratory work in general chemistry are to exemplify the facts stated in the lectures and to provide training in laboratory techniques. The facts were exemplified by demonstrations in the lectures; the techniques were developed in the later courses in analytical chemistry.

In 1887 a brick annex to Franklin Hall was built. This small separate building housed the laboratories for organic chemistry, introductory inorganic chemistry, and assaying, a library and balance room, a combined office and laboratory for instructors, and a special-purpose room commonly used for research. This annex was later occupied by the carpenter, paint, and electrical shops of the University. It has now been razed.

Only upperclassmen and graduate students were permitted to work in the organic laboratory. Women students were not admitted--whether for moral reasons or because of the fire risk is not stated. Night work and smoking were permitted, although barred in the main Franklin Hall. Since the library was in the annex and since the building was used at night for work on the senior theses required of all majors in chemistry, the faculty and the students who worked there were brought into close association." (Chamot and Rhodes, 1937)

"It had been recognized from the beginning of the University that the available laboratory space for the physical sciences was inadequate, but as noted above the University was in difficult financial shape during the 1870s. There was a national recession in 1873. Ezra Cornell had died in 1874, virtually penniless as a result of failed investments in upstate railroad stock. To make matters worse, A. D. White seemed to have grown weary of the presidency and in 1879 took a leave of absence in Europe to become U. S. Minister at Berlin. He left behind Acting-president W. C. Russel who was unable to cope with the problems. The University still held valuable timber-land out west as part of the land-grant act, but it was not producing much income. Henry Sage, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and long time Cornell benefactor, persuaded White to return in 1881. Sage initiated a period of major building growth by selling $2,000,000 worth of the western lands. One of the first projects addressed the laboratory problem with the construction of Franklin Hall.

White had a firm desire to see the white stone quadrangle continued, but in his absence overseas, the future Franklin Hall had been designed by Reverend Charles Babcock, Professor of Architecture, as a red-brick building (to save money and to placate many of the faculty who did not share Whites enthusiasm for white granite). When White returned, he was furious, but struck an ugly compromise to use red stone and so it stands today.

Until 1880 the Courses in Chemistry and Physics were united. When Franklin Hall was finished in 1882, Physics occupied the basement and first floor and Chemistry occupied the second and third floors. The Chamot and Rhodes history provides a detailed description of the building, which wont be repeated here; the interested reader should consult their account. Two pictures of the interior of Franklin are given here.

In spite of the improved facilities, the spurt in growth of both Chemistry and Physics overwhelmed the building. In 1887 a free-standing brick Annex was added to accommodate inorganic and organic laboratories as well as several other chemistry functions. The Annex was located near the North-West corner of Franklin Hall and is visible on the 1891 campus map.

From the description given in Bishops book, it appears that Physics had been given little space in the old wooden building and was generally overshadowed there by Chemistry. That all changed about the time the two departments split and moved to Franklin. One can guess that the addition of the Annex was stimulated as least as much by the growth of Physics as the growth of Chemistry.

Curiously, even as the Annex was being built, the plans for Chemistrys new and grander digs, Morse Hall, must have been underway. Another curiously timed event was that in 1887 a School of Pharmacy was opened under the administration of the Department of Chemistry. The program was discontinued in 1890 because of a lack of students.

What happened to Franklin Hall? In 1906 The Physics department moved to Rockefeller Hall and Franklin Hall became part of what is now the College of Architecture, Art & Planning. In 1981 Franklin Hall was renamed Tjaden Hall after Olive Tjaden who entered Cornell at age 15 and completed her architecture degree in four years (instead of the scheduled five years). She went on to an acclaimed career in architecture in New York City. It is unclear how or why it was decided to rename Franklin Hall in 1981, but is probably significant that most of the money used for the 1998 renovation of Tjaden Hall ($7.7 million) came from the estate Olive Tjaden van Sickle. As part of that 1998 renovation, the original 30-foot steeple, which had been damaged in a storm in the 1950s and torn down, was replaced by a new 20-ton metal steeple replica." (Wilcox, 2004)