page_title: Altgeld's castles
section_title: Eastern Illinois University
hierarchical_section_title: Altgeld's castles / Eastern Illinois University
caption_attribution_description: English: Detail of Altgeld Hall at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
context_page_description: "Altgeld's castles" are buildings in the Gothic Revival style in five Illinois universities, all built at the initiative or inspiration of Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld. During his term as governor, Altgeld expressed certain opinions on how buildings should be erected in the state of Illinois. In his second biennial message to the state legislature, he discussed how buildings were being constructed without consideration for their outward appearance. He stated that it was time for buildings to become more aesthetically pleasing in addition to being functional, and he suggested the "Tudor-Gothic style" as the most inexpensive way to do this. Consequently, several of the state universities in Illinois erected buildings which resembled castles in his honor. College folklore states that these buildings have aligned corridors and rooms so that they could all be “put together” to create one large building, but there is no evidence to support this rumor.
context_section_description: Old Main, formally named the Livingston C. Lord Administration Building, was completed in 1899. It was the first building constructed for the university, which was founded in 1895.  Old Main was built with Indiana limestone with a Gothic revival style with turrets, towers, and battlements.
  EIU and Illinois State are the only schools where the "castle" is not named after Altgeld.
caption: Altgeld Hall, UIUC
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