John W. Cook Hall, or Cook Hall, is a building that resembles a castle on the

Quad QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal cities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and is I ...

. Cook Hall, named for the university's fourth president, has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since the winter of 1986. Cook Hall is one of "

Altgeld's castles "Altgeld's castles" are buildings in the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival style at five Illinois public universities, all built at the initiative or inspiration of Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld During his term as governor (1893 ...

": it was designed toward the end of the administration of Illinois Governor

John Peter Altgeld John Peter Altgeld (December 30, 1847 – March 12, 1902) was an American politician and the 20th Governor of Illinois, serving from 1893 until 1897. He was the first Democrat to govern that state since the 1850s. A leading figure of the Prog ...

. Altgeld was a German native who favored

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

architecture. First proposed as a dormitory by Richard Edwards during his presidency at Illinois State University, the building was not approved until 1895. Opened in 1897, design elements for the building were changed, and its overall purpose shifted to that of a gymnasium. The building, called "Gymnasium" also held the University Library. Renamed "John Cook Hall" in 1936, it was eventually converted for other uses as larger gyms were constructed on campus. It currently houses the School of Music.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook Hall, John W. National Register of Historic Places in McLean County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Bloomington–Normal Illinois State University Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois

See also

References