National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7
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Billings Student Center, 48 University Place, 1885.
The Billings Student Center (formerly the Billings Library) overlooks the University Green from its position on the elevated east side of University Row. It is the most architecturally prominent building among a row of impressive buildings that make up one side of the University of Vermont Historic Green District. Designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, one of the country's most influential architects, Billings was built during 1883-1885 and is of the style that became known as Richardson Romanesque. Constructed of reddish-brown, random rusticated sandstone it is reminiscent of cathedral and meeting house design with its two story interior spaces and cross gable roof over a central transept. The long side of the building is parallel to the street and with the center entry pavilion and southern round room the structure as a whole presents a balanced look.
The gable front entry pavilion, with its massive Syrian arch, is flanked by two towers, the one to the left larger in scale and height than the mass of the building and topped by an open belfry, and the one to the right by a smaller, shorter circular tower. The building extends to the south past the tower ending in a large polygonal so-called "apse" covered by a multi-sided roof. Where the structure extends to the north it ends with another small tower that rises just above the eaves. From here a band of windows runs the length of this front side toward the entry as well as around the apse at the other end. The roof is covered with black slate and marked by two eyebrow dormers. There are a number of elegant carvings that decorate the exterior especially in the front gable. These include a round carving in the peak, heads of animals and men over the arched windows and a number of geometric designs marking the Syrian arch and its surroundings.
The massive Syrian arch dominates the front of the pavilion. Above this arch are five arch topped windows, and above that are three narrow lancet windows. Inside the entry is a small porch that has three arched openings containing the center doors and windows.
The north tower is taller than the entry pavilion and has an open belfry while the south tower fits snugly into the space between the pavilion and the connector to the polygon. The north side façade features a series of three rows of windows that cover most of the wall and give light to the book storage interior room. The original rear (east) façade continues the style of the front series of windows below the eaves and connects to the rear addition, the Marsh Room, which was added almost immediately after the construction was finished in 1886. The Marsh Room is a 40' square sandstone space that has the same series of windows that mark the end of the 25' north wall extension. The Marsh Room windows over look the 1984 brick dining room addition with its tripartite sky lighted roof. The south façade is the polygonal round room with a series of arched windows running all around under the eaves.
The immediate additions to the building were completed in 1889 and nothing more was done until the 1962 renovation that included a coffee shop and some offices at the basement level. The 1984 dining addition was added in the rear at the basement level where the ground drops away and thus does not interfere with the view of Billings from the Green.
The four interior rooms are all two stories tall and have elaborate woodcarvings, both on the ceilings and the walls. Originally there was furniture designed by Richardson but that is now on display in the Fleming Museum of UVM.
Frederick Billings, a Woodstock, Vermont lawyer who
made his fortune in the west and became president of the Northern Pacific
Railroad (Billings, Montana is named for him), bought the 12,000 volume
library of George Perkins Marsh from his widow for $250,000 in 1882. Marsh,
a native of Vermont, was a well -known congressman, diplomat and conservationist.
In 1883 Billings hired H.H. Richardson to design a library for the books
and also donated money to fund the construction. Dedicated in 1885, the
new Billings Library needed more room almost immediately and, because Richardson
had died in 1886, his successor firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge was
hired to plan the addition. By 1889 the 25' addition to the north wing
and the 40' square Marsh Room were finished. Although more space was needed
by 1904 and plans to add on were made, nothing happened until 1961 when
the new Guy Bailey Library was finished. The books were moved to the Bailey
Library. Billings was renovated by the firm of Barr, Linde, and Hubbard
of Burlington, Vermont, and rededicated as the Billings Student Center
in 1962. Once again, soon it was not large enough for the growing number
of uses it needed to serve. The firm of Shepley, Bullfinch, Richardson
(a descendant of H.H. Richardson), and Abbott was hired to design an addition
that would include a dining room and an underground connection to the Ira
Allen Chapel next door. Completed in 1984 and clearly differentiated from
the original building the dining hall is attractive and the work was done
in such a way that it fits into the landscape at the rear of the building
and does not intrude on the view from the historic Green.