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North Hall was the second building erected on the
Illinois State Normal University campus. It was located
north of Old Main. The two-story brick building was
originally built in 1892 as a training school and from
1917 until 1940 was the University library. The building
then was designated for the Departments of English and
Geography and the Vidette, the student newspaper. 
A University committee demanded that the new structure
be fireproof. The design included masonry floors supported
by iron girders, the slate roof covered the iron framework,
and the stairways and shelves were constructed of iron.
George Miller, a local architect, designed the structure
in the early 1890s reflecting his own version of the
Victorian Romanesque style: a foundation of rusticated
stone, design elements such as the arched entryway and
window lintels of the same rustication, and a steep
hipped roof with many dormer windows. The asymmetrical
window arrangement, contrary to the style, served the
function of redirecting sunlight from reflecting on
the blackboards. This made North Hall an eclectic design,
transitioning the ornamentalism of the Victorian style
and the functionalism of modern architecture.
The state legislature approved the expenditure stating
that it house the museum collection owned by the University.
John Wesley Powell, the famous western explorer and
curator of the museum left Normal, Illinois and took
much of the collection that he deemed his personal property
with him. He accepted a position at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, D.C. and donated the collection
to it.
The building was razed in 1965.
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