Summer 2002

Looking Back


Architecture - An Experiment in Curriculum Expansion

The spirit of curricular innovation that has helped bring national recognition to Rose-Hulman in recent years is nothing new to campus. For more than a century, the college has demonstrated a willingness to experiment with course offerings, as evidenced in an architecture major, which became part of the Rose curriculum in the late 1800s.

Although the program faded, we should not be surprised by an architecture degree at Rose. Much of what an architect needs to learn is sprinkled throughout the various Rose majors – principles of design, materials properties, mechanics, project management, etc. So it must have seemed like a "no brainer" at the September 1897 meeting of the Board of Managers when approval was granted to a faculty request "that a course be established leading to Architecture, constituting a department of Civil Engineering, which could ultimately be expanded into a complete course in Architecture." The editor of the Rose Technic noted that "...heretofore the East has been drawing many young men into her technical schools in pursuit of a course in architecture. The Rose Tech already has a wide spread reputation for her engineering courses and the addition of this branch of technical education will be only another move in the direction of making the Institute one of the best-known schools in our country." The ever-frugal Board said the only cost would be to add books and reference materials to the library. Rose Poly officially added Architecture to the limited list of departments awarding majors (mechanical, civil, chemical, and electrical engineering), the first since 1890 when EE was added. It was a bit of a risk, but the demand was there in America for better-trained architects, and there was interest in the student body.

Professors Malverd A. Howe, professor of CE, who was to be the head, Frank C. Wagner, associate professor of steam and electrical engineering, and Orange E. McMeans (class of 1896), instructor in drawing and architectural design, formed the program. McMeans provided the mission of the department in an article for the March 1899 Rose Technic: "...[the architect’s] knowledge of the time-tried laws of harmony in proportion, of safety in construction, of beauty in decorations, and his familiarity with the uses of materials, old and new, as shown in the practice of the various building trades, may one or all be worth more to him than his skill in making drawings." The program was not to be an expanded program of draftsmanship.

The curriculum closely paralleled that of CE for the first two quarters of the freshmen year (yes, we were on the quarter system even then). In the third quarter, the architects took six hours of practice in metal and wood, while others were concerned with the foundry. Come the junior and senior years the catalogue states "the strictly Architectural work...consists mainly in working out of practical problems of buildings of different types..." Classes in specifications, contracts, estimates of cost, sanitary plumbing, drainage, heating and ventilation all had their place in the curriculum.

The honor of the "first graduate" goes to William Insley, class of 1900. He went on to found Insley Manufacturing Company. Despite a bright beginning, there would be years in which there were no graduates. The peak came in 1934 with four. Russell Kerr, class of 1935, is the last alumnus of this elite major. There is no doubt that there are many reasons why the major failed to gain broad acceptance. Placement in the field of architecture has always been very tough. New graduates continue to serve an extended apprenticeship at low wages. War and depression, hard on all professions, are particularly hard on architects. Perhaps those for whom architecture was a passion did not select Rose Poly as their college. In all, for the period 1900-1935, forty earned the degree. Based on alumni records, only nine can be identified as working in some aspects of architecture at the end of their careers. Most migrated into some aspect of construction, sales, real estate, and one became a community planner.

The Board took little notice of the disappearance of the department. The financial demands of keeping the doors open caused all to focus on the core mission – engineering education. Classes not carrying their weight were dropped. But the architecture program was an important experiment in curriculum expansion, not unlike Biomedical Engineering and Applied Optics of the modern era. As we embark on this century, curriculum innovation no doubt will continue and who knows what the future holds.