North Court
Site: South side of Westhampton Lake, across from the Greek Theater on Westhampton Way
Work began: July, 1911
Completed: Summer, 1913
Architect: Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson; Carneal & Johnston (supervising architects)
Size: 96,478 square feet
Cost: $218,385
On March 3, 1914, the charter of Richmond College was amended to establish two coordinate colleges: Richmond College for men and Westhampton College for women. The original Westhampton College building was designed to be a complete college. Originally the building was simply referred to as Westhampton College, but later in 1948, when South Court was constructed, the original building was renamed North Court.
Work began on the construction of the Westhampton College building in July 1911 and was completed in the summer of 1913. It was constructed of custom brick laid in Flemish bond pattern with decorative tile inlays. The tile was produced by the Pewabic Pottery. The building was designed to be fireproof utilizing a steel framework, reinforced concrete, steel stairways with slate treads, and concrete window frames with bronze sashes. The building had an English style dining room with vaulted ceilings of dark wood.
Westhampton College was designed in Gothic style. The Tower divided the residential and academic wings. The building consisted of dormitory rooms (single and double), a kitchen and dining hall, classrooms, a reading room, reception rooms, and offices. The structure was built around an English courtyard, which was planted with sod from the old campus downtown. In addition, many of the walkways of the new campus were paved with bricks from walkways on the old campus.
On opening in the fall of 1914, Westhampton College enrolled 82 women: 38 residential and 44 commuting. The building was designed to accommodate 135 students. Since there was space, a number of faculty members and administrators also lived in the building, including: Cleo Hearon, professor of history; Hilda Beale, instructor in mathematics; Fanny G. Crenshaw, director of athletics; Dean May Lansfield Keller, dean of Westhampton College; Benjamin West Tabb, treasurer, and his family; R.E. Gaines, professor of mathematics at Richmond College, and his family; Eugene L. Bingham, professor of chemistry, and his family; and Dr. Frederic Boatwright, president.
Since the library in Ryland Hall could be used by first and second year Westhampton students only at certain hours, a reading room was established in Westhampton College. The appropriate materials were kept on reserve shelves. At first, the reading room was located in the office of the Dean’s secretary, but by the second year more space was needed, and it was moved to the third floor of the Tower. Later, in 1958, a modern language laboratory was established in the Tower, which contained projection booths and recording machines. The language lab is now located in Puryear Hall.
The Tower was also used by students for indoor exercises, although some students claimed that they got all the exercise they needed by racing to catch the “old black bus,” a cart drawn by two mules that transported Westhampton College students to the Number 9 streetcar that brought students downtown.
At first, chapel services for women were held in North Court, but beginning in 1919, services were held in the structure that had been built and then vacated by the Red Cross (located near the current site of the Modlin Center). In June 1918, the Army had leased UR’s campus for use as a debarkation hospital during World War I. During the 1918-1919 academic year, Westhampton College students moved out of North Court and back to the old campus. Students were housed in rented quarters in St. Luke’s Hospital at Harrison and Grace Streets and in residences on Franklin Street and Monument Avenue. Their classes were held at Broad and Lombardy Streets. Richmond College and Westhampton College returned to the Westhampton campus for the opening of the academic year in the fall of 1919.
When Richmond College moved to the Westhampton campus, there was no designated place for the museum that had been housed in Jeter Hall on the old campus. Museum objects were stored in various locations around the new campus. For a while, the museum was located in Maryland Hall as part of the biology department. After Maryland Hall became an administrative building in 1977, much of the museum’s collection was moved to the classics department in North Court, where it is now housed. Other objects from the museum are housed in the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature.
After E. Bruce Heilman Dining Hall opened in 1982, what had been the women’s refectory in North Court was converted into a recital hall. The recital hall was used for chamber music concerts. The North Court recital hall was refurbished in 1989. The dark red seats of the recital hall are modeled after those in the Carpenter Center. The hall was renovated again in 1995 and renamed Perkinson Recital Hall in honor of Byrd Boisseau Perkinson (WC 1940) and William H. Perkinson (RC 1938). Today, Perkinson Recital Hall is home to many music department events, including student recitals, lectures, and rehearsals. The venue seats approximately 150 audience members; two pianos and one of the department’s harpsichords are available for rehearsals and performances. Dressing rooms and a green room are located backstage.
In 1988, North Court was renovated as part of a $2.25 million project to upgrade heating, air conditioning, security, and the fire alarm system. New landscaping, lighting, ceilings, furniture, paint, carpet, windows, doors, and laundry facilities were installed.
The former kitchen was renovated in 1990 and became space for the religion department. Currently, North Court also houses the classics, philosophy, and education departments, as well as The Governor’s School for Humanities and Visual & Performing Arts.
Sources:
Minutes of the Eightieth Annual Session of the Virginia James River Baptist Association Held with Buckingham Baptist Church, Buckingham County, Va. July 30th, 31st and August 1st, 1912
Nineteenth Annual Report of the President to the Trustees of Richmond College, June 1914
Rosenbaum, Claire Millhiser. A Gem of a College: The History of Westhampton College, 1914-1989
University of Richmond Magazine, Winter 1973
UR website
VBHS building file
Reports from the Committee on New Buildings, 1914 (VBHS)