Gottwald Science Center
Site: Between Cannon Memorial Chapel and the Deanery, on Chapel Circle Road
Groundbreaking: March, 1976
Opening: September, 1977
Dedication: March 2, 1978
Orginal Architect: John Carl Warnecke and Associates
Size: 162,000 (prior to expansion)
Original Cost: $8 million
Groundbreaking for expansion: May 14, 2003
Expected date of completion: August, 2005
Architect: Einhorn Yaffe Prescott, project architect: Elissa Kellett
General Contractor: Conquest Moncure & Dunn, Inc.
Expected cost of expansion: $35 million
Classes in the sciences were first taught on the current campus in a two-story frame building located in the hollow between the lake and the power plant. A fire destroyed that building and its equipment on October 21, 1925. Following the fire, the science departments were moved for a few years to the Playhouse, another frame structure that was part of the original amusement park.
In April 1927, Puryear Hall opened as the chemistry building; in October 1930, Richmond Hall opened as the physics building; and in April 1933, Maryland Hall opened as the biology building. Those departments moved to Gottwald Science Center when it opened in 1977.
Funds for the construction of the new Science Center, as it was first called, were raised through the “Our Time in History” campaign of the 1970s. Members of the Science Facility Planning Committee traveled to 39 undergraduate science centers around the country and choose a design that was similar to that of the science center at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Groundbreaking took place in March 1976.
The dedication of the Science Center took place over two days, March 2-3, 1978. The event’s theme was “The Importance of Undergraduate Science Education.” The building was formally dedicated during ceremonies in the Cannon Memorial Chapel on March 3rd. An address was given by Dr. Philip Handler, president of the National Academy of Sciences. In turn, the University donated $500 to the NAS’s art acquisition fund. The next day, an alumni symposium was held in the Commons, with talks given by four University graduates who had excelled in their careers as scientists.
In April 1979, a little more than a year after the building was dedicated, the University was given $4 million gift in honor of Floyd D. Gottwald, vice chairman of the Ethyl Corporation and an emeritus member of Richmond’s Board of Trustees. The gift was composed of $2.5 million from the Ethyl Corporation, $1 million from an anonymous donor, and other sums in honor of Mr. Gottwald. The gift covered half the cost of the new building, and as a result, the building was named the Gottwald Science Center. At the time, this was the second largest gift Richmond had received.
The Science Center, which was designed to integrate the science departments, was a departure from most other campus buildings in that it only lightly referenced the Collegiate Gothic style of architecture. As a University press release described:
“The modular design of the three floors provides for vertical integration of each academic department and horizontal action between departments, a feature which enhances the interdisciplinary approach to the study of science.”
An article in the winter 1978 issues of UR Magazine, titled “Nucleus of Vaulted Secrets in a Gothic Fortress,” describes the plan this way:
“The three natural sciences -- biology, chemistry, and physics -- are housed in separate modular wings, color-coded green and yellow for biology, blue for chemistry, orange for physics, and joined by connecting corridors.”
The building was designed with no interior load-bearing walls. This was meant to allow rapid and inexpensive redesign as new emphases in the sciences emerged. In the center of the building was a three-tiered library that anchored the design and was meant to further integrate the three departments.
When it opened in 1977, the Science Center contained 26 student-faculty research laboratories, five classrooms, an auditorium, 27 teaching labs, faculty offices, “computational areas,” a shop complex, a radionuclide complex, an electron microscope suite, a greenhouse and animal facilities, and the science library. The library displayed the portraits of three influential science professors who had served at the University: Bennet Puryear, first instructor in physics and later professor of natural sciences; W. Rush Loving, professor of physics; and Robert F. Smart, professor of biology and dean of Richmond College.
In 2002, the building housed biology, chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, physics, and environmental studies The University of Richmond Board of Trustees approved a $35 million renovation and expansion of the Gottwald Science Center at its Oct. 3 meeting on campus.
"Once the science center's renovation and expansion are completed, our students will learn in a state-of-the art facility where they will be full partners in science programs that are steeped in hands-on research opportunities, grounded in practical applications, and positioned at the center of scientific discovery," says Dr. William Cooper, University president.
The expansion of Gottwald Science Center will include the latest technology and research equipment as well as the flexibility to incorporate emerging technologies into the science curriculum and research activities. The plan calls for approximately 28,000 square feet of new space along with renovation and remodeling throughout the existing building. New space will be constructed along parts of the current south and west sides of the building.
The completed facility will include an atrium; significant new research laboratories; and a new entry that will be more closely aligned architecturally to other campus buildings. The book collection has been moved to the main library. A science reading room will be located in the new light-filled atrium.
Upgrading the center is part of the University's ambitious science initiative that will generate a series of science program enhancements totaling more than $60 million over the next decade, intended to make Richmond a first-choice college for some of the top science students in America.
"Excellence in the sciences will benefit not only the University's science departments," says Dr. Andrew Newcomb, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. "It will also benefit the humanities, fine arts, business, leadership and social science programs by attracting multi-talented high school students to Richmond."
The most dramatic programmatic change in the initiative is the creation of five interdisciplinary centers for scientific discovery. They include centers for material science, environmental science, neuroscience, biological chemistry, and nuclear and particle physics. Over the next 10 years, program enhancements will include the addition of up to 18 new science faculty, greater emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, addition of a new major in biochemistry and molecular biology, and development of innovative science classes for non-science majors.
In February 2003, Richmond announced that it had received a challenge grant of $300,000 from the Mary Morton Parson Foundation to help expand Gottwald Science Center. The University raised the required $600,000 in matching funds from trustees, parents, and corporate donors. Four University of Richmond trustees have created an $8 million challenge gift toward the $35 million renovation and expansion of Gottwald Science Center. Trustees Robert S. Jepson Jr., Allison Weinstein and two anonymous trustees pooled their contributions and challenged all Richmond alumni and friends to match or exceed the $8 million gift.
Groundbreaking for the expansion, took place on May 14, 2003. The project is expected to be completed by August 2005. The architecture and engineering firm of Einhorn Yaffee Prescott of Boston and Washington, D.C., which designed science centers for Williams and Swarthmore colleges, serves as project architects.
Floyd Dewey Gottwald Sr., was born on May 22, 1898 in Richmond, Virginia. He was the eldest of five brothers. He graduated from John Marshall High School and studied Chemistry at the Richmond extension of the College of William and Mary. He married Annie Ruth Cobb in November, 1919.
Mr. Gottwald joined Albemarle Paper Manufacturing company in 1918. He quickly rose through the ranks becoming president of the company in 1941. In 1962 Albemarle Paper was acquired by Ethyl Corporation. Following the acquisition Gottwald served as chairman of the board of the Ethyl Corporation continuing in that role until 1968 when he became vice-chairman.
In 1963 the University awarded Gottwald with a Doctor of Commercial Science degree. He served as a trustee from 1959 to 1982. His son, Floyd D. Gottwald, Jr. has served as a trustee since 1969 and is presently a trustee emeritus. John David Gottwald, grandson of Gottwald, Sr. and alumnus of the University is an honorary trustee.
Sources:
Alley, Reuben E. History of the University of Richmond, 1830-1971
University website
Richmond Matters
VBHS building file