The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-26
INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY



According to previous notice the board Of
trustees of the Indiana University opened the
bids yesterday for the erection of the two new
college buildings at Bloomington. -Four bids
were filed as follows: Moelng & Bereforder of
Fort Wayne $64, 943; Charles Pearce, of Indian
apolis, 1854 800; p. Ii. Mccormick of Columbus,
1863, 800; H. j. Nichols e Son, of Bloomington,
$59,9S2. This last bid being the lowest, the con
tract was awarded Nichols e Son, and they
were given till the LIST of April to make their
bond and close their contract The buildings
are both to be completed by the 1st of Decem-
Der next
In developing the pla1 S for these two build
Ings the board awaited themselves of all the in
formation within their reach. Other college
| buildings in the State were examined, and col
lege professors who were supposed to know some
thing of the necessities to be provided for were
| consulted. 1t was remembered that the ten
dency of modern scientific work is more and
more toward giving emphasis to technical and
experimental methods, and these buildings were
arranged and planned with special reference to
that tendency. In the destruction of the old
buildings last July by fire, the professors of
philosophy ScleilCt
were left without laboratories work shops and
| recitation rooms, and to provide these several
| departments with such buildings as in point of
| capacity and suitableness of arrangement will
! set them in the front rank has been the aim of
| the board If anything will be lacking in this
respect it will be from want of adequate means
rather than from anything else.
| The two buildings designed in the style
| commonly known as the new Greek, and while
no money will he spent in a tawdry and useless
| adOrnmnut n glance af the MANS a T1rnuappd nv
architect Bunting nevertheless shows that an
| architectural effect will be reached that will
| satisfy the most fastidious taste. Neatness,
| convenience and adaptation seem to have been
,. kept prominently in view in developing the
| plans. Each building will be two stories high,
| with basement made of the best limestone the
region affords, extending nine feet above the
| ground line. Above the basement the work will
be of the best select brick with pressed brick
arches, stone belts, terra Gotta crossings, slate
roofs and galvanized iron corniees.
The first and second stories of both will be
entirely ireproof, and the floors will be carried
on rolled iron beams, with brick arches between,
and the corridors will be tiled with encaustic tile
| laid in cement The larger of the two buildings
| has been designed with special reference to the
needs of the departments of physics and chemis
| try. The plan of this building resembles some
| what in its general form q capital H. 1t is 173
! feet in length by eighty -four in width. The
| first floor will be adapted to work in chemistry.
| Hitherto much attention has been given to this
| branch of knowledge in its higher forms in this
university, and it is evidently the purpose of the
management that there shall be no abatement in
thoroughness in that line of work hereafter.
A qualitative analysis room, thirty by eighty
| feet, and a quantitative analysis room, thirty by
! forty-seven feet, are provided for together
/ with a cOmmodi0tS lecture room, an assay room,
/ a dark room, apparatus room and complement
! of storage rooms. The second floor will be oecu-
! pied by the professors in physics. 1t contains
| two lecture and operating rooms, thirty by forty
seven and half feet with apparatus and stor-
age rooms attached, two workshops, recitation
| and other rooms
The smaller of the two buildings is parallelo
gram, seventy feet ten inches by sixty-four feet
! ten inches, with projection on the front for a
| double staircase. 1t is to be devoted exclusively
! to carrying on work in natural history.
| On the first floor is room. twenty
| by siXty-siX feet, admirably arranged for
| light and specially adapted to microscopic and
! other technical work peculiar to that department
| Two recitation rooms are also provided for with
| store-rooms ON the same floor In the second
| floor will be the museum. This is fifty-nine feet
! by siXty-siX, with gallery on the four sides
| fourteen feet in width
At the time the building, with the museum
| was burned last summer, Dr. Jordan the pro
fessor in charge of the natural history depart
ment, was absent in Europe, whence he did not
return till about the LIST of October. Before
| his return numerous offers came from
! colleges. learned societies and private individ-
| uals to furnish specimens for this department q
| great deal of which has come to hand. Since
1 his return he has personally exerted himself in
| securing material for the museum, and with
such success that by the time the building will
| be completed the museum cases can be pretty
| well filed. 1t is estimated that about one half
| OF the type specimens belonging to the s'Owen
cabinet" were saved from the fire, and these to-
| gether with the specimens collected and donated
since, will go far towards bringing the cabinet
up TO its old standard.