A Select Study of Classical Inspiration in Baylor's Campus Architecture: Pat Neff Hall, Memorial Dormitory, and the Baylor Sciences Building

My thesis is Baylor's architecture and the inspiration behind the classical elements seen in Pat Neff Hall, Memorial Dormitory, and the Baylor Sciences Building. I have gathered information from the Texas Collection, primarily. At this library, I discovered that Baylor President Samuel Palmer Brooks was an important factor in the classicism that campus displays. From a paper detailing Birch Easterwood's life, the architect of Memorial and Pat Neff Hall, Brooks visited the New England area with Easterwood for the structure's inspiration. furthermore, primary sources like an oral interview with Brooks' children and secondary sources such as newspaper articles revealed that inspiration also came from the University of Texas. Even the Baylor Sciences Building includes classical elements from Pat Neff Hall and Memorial Dormitory. I received an email from one of the architects on the project in which he told me, explicitly, the inspiration behind the design of the science building. The Baylor administration wanted the architectural firm of Harley Ellis to connect the science building to the other structures; thus uniting the entire campus.