Rockwell Hall, 1940-
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.
Architects - Earl C. Morris, of Frank Frewen and Earl C. Morris (1939), Michael Barber Architecture Professional Corporation of Denver (1995), Davis Partnership Architects (2010 Rockwell West addition)
Builders - John E. Anderson and Son of Fort Collins excavated the site, Woehler & Force Construction Company of Greeley was the General Building Contractor as well as the Heating and Plumbing Contractor and WPA (1939), Francis Constructors, Inc. of Denver, Colorado (Rockwell Hall Renovation 1995), Dohn Construction Incorporated (2010 Rockwell West addition)
501 and 523 West Laurel Street
The Fort Collins Express-Courier ran a story on July 1, 1937, saying that the State Board of Agriculture had approved the funds to build a residence hall on the Colorado State College of A & M campus for freshmen girls. Earl C. Morris, of the architectural firm Frank Frewen & Earl C. Morris, was hired to design this $176,000 building that was partially funded by the federally sponsored Works Progress Administration (WPA). This was to become known as Rockwell Hall.
The original plan was to build the new residence hall on land between Ammons Hall and the library. The September 1938 flood left three feet of water on that proposed site. It was decided to build further to the west on higher ground.
The “Aileen Miller Rockwell Memorial Dormitory” opened for occupancy at the start of the fall quarter of 1939. It was named to honor the memory of Aileen Miller Rockwell, the late wife of State Board of Agriculture member Robert Fay Rockwell who had donated $20,000 towards its construction. For the first time since 1893, the College was back in the business of operating on-campus housing for some of its students. It was originally designed to house 116 women with 58 living in each of two units of the hall. The dormitory was touted as providing a healthful and wholesome place for girls to live as they move away from home for the first time and enter college-life.
Rockwell was divided into east and west sides. A pair of dining rooms was serviced by a single kitchen that sent the food out through a pair of serving pantries. Mrs. Combs was hired as the Dietician to supervise the preparation of the meals served to the residents. Kitchen supplies were delivered through a single door on the north side of the building and the service drive off West Laurel Street.
Each side had its own Social Director’s Suite, Living Room and Pajama Room. The West Living Room is shown having a baby grand piano in a 1941 photo. The corridors in the second and third floors were separated by a doorway in the middle. A registered nurse assigned to the dormitory had her office and infirmary located in the middle of the third floor on the north side of the hallway. Four bathrooms with a tub, three showers, sinks and toilets serviced the three levels of each half of the building. Each of the three floors had a telephone on both east and west sides of the hall. Each residential room was 13’ 6” deep and the double rooms were 14’ 6” wide. Each of these rooms had two small closets. Several rooms were not as wide and were equipped for a single resident. The rooms were equipped with single beds, dressers, lamps, study tables and chairs. Students provided their own bedding, bed linen and towels. Weekly laundering of six pieces was part of the room and board that cost $270 to $324 for the 36 weeks of the school year.
The building’s U-shape was designed to allow sunlight into each room. A spectacular view of Long’s Peak and the foothills of the Rockies was touted as being an attribute of the modern design of the building built and decorated especially for the college woman.
In April 1946, seven basement rooms being used for storage were converted into rooms to house students. This was an effort to help with the crowded post-war housing conditions. 142 students could now live in Rockwell.
During the summer of 1960, the original kitchen and dining rooms were remodeled and updated. In March 1968, the State Board of Agriculture began looking at potentially using Rockwell Hall for faculty offices, housing only graduate students, and providing meeting and temporary housing for visiting groups.
Rockwell Hall served as a residence hall through the spring of 1970. Over the summer of 1970, it came to be used for classrooms and offices for the Child Development program. This included converting the former dining room into a playroom with a one-way glass window to allow students to observe the children at play. This space was abandoned in 1975 with the opening of the new Gifford Building.
In September 1972, the Office of Conferences and Institutes moved into Rockwell Hall from the north end of the CSU Student Center to create a “Residential Conference Center”. This occupied most of the center wing and all the west wing of the building. An article and photos appeared in the April 12, 1973, issue of CSU Comments about this renovation.
The administrative offices of the Division of Continuing Education and the Department of Food Services moved into the east wing of the building a short time later. Food Services moved out in 1990 when the Palmer Center was remodeled into offices.
In 1984, the first floor received some remodeling financed by the Lory Student Center as work was done to convert the building into a University Guest House as well as a Residential Conference Center. In December 1993, the Office of Conference Services moved to 1301 South College Avenue and the building was vacated.
In the summer of 1994, Rockwell Hall had been turned over to the College of Business and work began to extensively remodel the existing building and add a large “horseshoe shape” addition to its south side. This renovation was designed by Michael Barber Architecture Professional Corporation of Denver and completed in the summer of 1997 prior to the July 28, 1997, flood. The building was still able to accommodate students for the fall semester of 1997 in the new high-tech facilities. On September 23, 2005, the Everitt Real Estate Center was dedicated in Rockwell Hall. In 2011, the Everitt Real Estate Center moved some of its offices across the street to the newly acquired Rockwell North building.
On October 2, 2008, ground was broken to begin work on a large second addition to Rockwell Hall. It was located on the west side of building at 523 West Laurel Street. Donations from private business supporters helped fund this $17.5 million, 54,600 square-foot project designed by Davis Partnership Architects. This addition to the original building became known as “Rockwell West”. The new space was ready for use in April 2010. Dedication ceremonies were held on April 30, 2010, with former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell being the featured speaker.
Certified as LEED® NC – Gold the Rockwell West expansion project featured 40,500 square feet of program space. This addition added nine classrooms, a 112-seat Grand Auditorium, Financial Data Lab, and Student Forum. Each room was equipped with wireless technology, LCD projectors, DVD players, SMART Boards, and plasma screens. The Financial Data Lab replicates an actual trading room to simulate stock and bond transactions. Student use actual market data and stock quotes as they occur each trading day. The Student Forum was designed as a central hub for students and faculty that includes a coffee shop with café seating and vending machines. The College of Business Career Management Center is located in the Rockwell West portion of the building.
In 2015 a new Master Plan was published. It showed a large addition to the east end of Rockwell Hall.
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Interview with Diane H. Sickles by Gordon A. Hazard.
E-mail interview with Manny Cunard on March 3, 2017 by Gordon A. Hazard.
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