Grawemeyer Hall is a building located on the Belknap Campus (main campus) of the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. The building was modeled after

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

Rotunda A rotunda () is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (an example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). ...

on the grounds of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. Named for

Charles Grawemeyer Henry Charles Grawemeyer (September 3, 1912 – December 8, 1993), industrialist, entrepreneur, astute investor and philanthropist, created the Grawemeyer Award at the University of Louisville in 1984. An initial endowment of $9 million from the ...

, a major benefactor to the university, the building now houses mostly administrative offices including the office of the university's president. The building was designed by the Allied Architects of Kentucky, a consortium of architects. Consortium members

Frederic L. Morgan Frederic L. Morgan (January 6, 1889 – May 29, 1970) was an American architect in practice in Louisville, Kentucky from 1921 until his death in 1970. Morgan spent nearly all of his career as partner responsible for design for Nevin & Morgan ...

and Arthur G. Tafel were chiefly responsible for the design.

William Morgan William Morgan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * William De Morgan (1839–1917), pottery and tile designer in Britain * William Morgan (director) (1899–1964), English film director and editor * William Michael Morgan (born 1993), American ...

, "Morgan, Frederic Lindley" in ''The Encyclopedia of Louisville'', ed. John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001): 626. On the steps of the building rests one of the original castings of

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

The Thinker ''The Thinker'' (), by Auguste Rodin, is a bronze sculpture depicting a Heroic nudity, nude male figure of heroic size, seated on a large rock, leaning forward, right elbow placed upon the left thigh, back of the right hand supporting the chin ...

. This casting is one of the few originals in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the only one in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

References

{{reflist University of Louisville University and college buildings completed in 1926 1926 establishments in Kentucky National Register of Historic Places in Louisville, Kentucky