From CSU's Sense of Place: A Campus History of Colorado's Land-Grant University, by James E. Hansen, Gordon A. Hazard, and Linda M. Meyer. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University, 2018.
Architect – Harlan Thomas
201 Old Main Drive
Designed by architect Harlan Thomas, this structure was built at a cost of $5000. The “Lavatory” building is considered to be of the “Vernacular” style of architecture. A major step forward from the original outdoor privies, this campus building featured hot water for the tub and shower baths, marble fixtures including flush toilets, pressed brick walls, tile floors, and lockers for the Athletic Association. In reference to this building’s original purpose the 1902-03 Catalog stated, “The institution is absolutely sanitary since the erection of this perfectly appointed Lavatory.” Many students still lived in places with little or no indoor plumbing. This was an extremely important building on the campus for their health and comfort.
In 1929, the building began serving as an “Entomology Laboratory”. After undergoing some interior remodeling and having its small ventilation windows replaced by full sized windows it began serving as the “Student Health Service Building and College Dispensary” in September 1936. It was during this remodeling when the small storm porch was added to the entrance. About 1946, the building assumed the function of the “Home Economics Nutrition Research Laboratory”. In 1989 the building appeared on campus maps as “Storage #65”. Since 1998 it has been known as the “Occupational Therapy Research Annex” or simply the “O. T. Annex”.
Today, the “O. T. Annex” houses the Neuro Rehabilitation Research Laboratory (NRRL). This is a clinical research lab affiliated with the Department of Occupational Therapy. Its research seeks to improve the processes of rehabilitation for persons with nervous system damage, and to investigate neural factors related to recovery.
Sources by Gordon Hazard
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, June 30, 1899, page 260.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 22, 1901, page 9, vol. XI, number 2.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, May 31, 1902, page 677.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, June 2, 1902, page 682.
“24th Annual Register of the Officers and Students of the State Agricultural College, Fort Collins, Colorado 1902-1903”, page 30.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 20, 1902, page 11, col. 1, vol. XII, number 2.
24th Annual Report of the State Board of Agriculture and the State Agricultural College, 15th Annual Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Colorado 1902, page 19.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 5, 1903, pages 4 - 6, vol. XII, number 7.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, June 4, 1903, page 714.
“Twenty-fifth Annual Register of the Officers and Students of the Colorado State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, Fort Collins, Colorado 1903-1904, page 30.
“26th Annual Register of the Officers and Students of the Colorado State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts for 1904-05, Fort Collins, Colorado”, page 33.
“Map of the College Grounds – 1904”, by Ralph L. Parshall.
“The State Agricultural College, Fort Collins, Colorado, Catalogue and Prospectus – 1905-06”, published May 1905, p. 33.
State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, June 30, 1906, page 14.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, December 13, 1906, page 79.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 15, 1906, page 9, vol. XVI, number 6.
1923 Campus Map.
1929 Campus Map.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 11, 1936, pages 1-2, vol. XLVI, number 1.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 16, 1936, page 1, vol. XLVI, number 2, new College Dispensary for Student Health Service opens in the building, open 8-5 Monday through Friday.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 23, 1936, page 1, vol. XLVI, number 3.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 7, 1936, page 1, col. 4, vol. XLVI, number 5.
“Colorado A & M College 34th Annual Summer Session 1946”, LD1146.C61 1945-1954 Archive.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 13, 1946, page 6, vol. LVI, number 10.
“1950 Silver Spruce”, page 104, vol. 45.
“Long Range Development Program”, Report to the Colorado State Planning Commission, March 1952, page 10 and campus maps, LD1145.8, A452, 1952, Archive.
Summer Session Bulletins – Campus Maps 1958 through 1961.
“Colorado State University Directory 1959-1960”, page 88.
“Colorado State University Directory 1960-1961”, page 92.
“Projections 1964”, booklet from the CSU Planning and Physical Plant, page 17, LD1142.9, P76, 1964, Archive.
CSU Collegian, August 29, 1968, page 14, vol. LXXVII, number 1.
The CSU Alumnus, January-February 1971, vol. 47, number 1, page 2, Oversize, LH1.C68, v. 46-54, Archive.
CSU Collegian, February 3, 1972, pages 3 and 5, vol. LXXX, number 68.
CSU Collegian, June 22, 1972, page 4, vol. LXXXI, number 2.
“A History of Colorado State University 1870 – 1974”, by James E. Hansen II, 1974.
Fort Collins Journal, October 26, 1977, page 1, vol. LXXXVI, number 56.
“Democracy’s College in the Centennial State – A History of Colorado State University” by James E. Hansen II, 1977, p. 200.
Colorado State University Bulletin Summer Session 1988, pages 12-13, LD1146.C61, 1988, Archive
Make this a Summer to Remember, 1989 Academic Offerings, pages 4-5, LD1146.C61, 1988, Archive.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, October 11, 1994, 1-8a-z 1-1u-w.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, May 2, 1995, 1-12a-aa,1-1u-v. Note: this includes a colored campus map indicating structures proposed for historic designation.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, May 5, 1995, page 1, vol. 103, number 161.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 25, 1996, page 1, vol. 104, issue 86.
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