Manning Hall, Providence

Completed in 1834, Manning Hall was Brown’s third campus building. Nicholas Brown financed the project for about $18,500 and asked that it honor James Manning, the university’s first president. Its design was taken from the 1817 folio The Unedited Antiquities of Attica and reproduces the ancient Temple of Diana-Propylea at Eleusis at roughly twice the original scale. Doric columns and a triangular pediment create its temple-like façade.

The building originally housed a library below and a chapel above. At its dedication on February 4, 1835, President Francis Wayland delivered a widely discussed address titled “Dependence of Science upon Revealed Religion.” The library later outgrew its 30,000-volume capacity, and the hall subsequently served as a museum of classical antiquities, a drawing studio, and lecture space.

Today, the first floor contains the Galen V. Henderson Admission Welcome Center. Its custom woodwork echoes the exterior’s fluted columns, while a structural column wrapped in cross-laminated timber introduces a modern reference to sustainable construction. The upper level remains Manning Chapel and also hosts admission presentations. Nearby libraries show the evolution of campus library design.