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Overview

Architects Victor Jones (1900-1969) and John Jacobsen (1903-1998) produced an old-fashioned Gothic/Jacobethan Revival Style design harmonizing with the prevalent style of University of Washington (UW) Quad buildings in 1949. Other retardataire Jacobethan buildings were also erected at around this time, including the Art and Music Buildings on the east end of the Quad. The UW upper administration has occupied this building since the beginning. It was named for UW President William P. Gerberding (1929-2014)in 1995, just after he left office on 08/31/1995.

Building History

The Administration Building was one of the last campus buildings erected in the Gothic Style, although the Art and Music Buildings in the Liberal Arts Quad dated slightly later, around 1950.

A student sit-in occurred in the UW Administration Building on 05/20/1968. Students occupied the president's office on the building's third floor. (See Tyrone Reason, "Anger and Activism," Seattle Times Pacific NW, 09/02/2018, pp. 17-18.)

Building Notes

Prof. Norman Johnston, in his 2001 Campus Guide University of Washington wrote about the 25 sculptures on the parapet of the Administration Building created UW Art Professor Dudley Pratt: "Along the parapet are to be found a series of sculptures by Dudley Pratt, depicting campus disciplines--note especially that of Father Neptune representing oceanography and fisheries is on the east gable end. Liberal Arts are featured on the tower, including Phi Beta Kappa keys as well as a profile of Herbert T. Condon, a 'Friend of Youth,' the dean of students in the '40s. Bronze seals of the territory and state of Washington as well as the university are found on the plaza face of the building; its use for university administration is recalled by the gowned figure above the entry porch with a money bag in one hand and an adding machine in the other. The building also houses the offices of the dean and the administration of the Graduate School." (Norman Johnston, "30. Gerberding Hall," Campus Guide University of Washington, [New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2001], pp. 46-47 and Norman Johnston, The Fountain and the Mountain, [Woodinville, WA, and Seattle, WA: Documentary Book Publishers and University of Washington, 1995], pp.110-111.) According to Johnston, this was Pratt's last commission for UW buildings.

The tower of Administration Hall was originally conceived as a belfry, but it became a stair tower, likely for cost and reasons of utility.

Alteration Notes

On 06/29/1969, an explosion caused by dynamite damaged the entryway of Gerberding Hall, then the main UW campus administration building. In 2008, an anonymous donor gave the University of Washington eight copper and tin bells for installation in the tower of Gerberding Hall. These bells were for change ringing, creating patterns rather than tunes. Stock and Associates worked on this project, creating a belfry nad ringing room below to accommodate a team of bell ringers. Nordic Construciton worked on this project; Brian Rostheimer of Nordic Construction was one employee on the retrofitting of the tower.

PCAD id: 6934