UCL Main Building

The Main Building at University College London, includes the Octagon, Quad, Cloisters, Main Library, Flaxman Gallery and the Wilkins Building. The North Wing, South Wing, Chadwick Building and Pearson Building are also considered part of the main UCL building.

History

In 1827, a year after the founding of UCL, construction of the Main Building began on the site of the old Carmarthen Square. The Octagon Building is a term used for the whole of the Main Building, but more appropriately for a central part of it. At the centrepiece of the building is an ornate dome, which is visible throughout the immediate area. The Octagon was designed by the Architect William Wilkins, who also designed the National Gallery. The original plans by Wilkins called for a U-shaped enclosure around the Quad (square). Funds, however, ran out in 1829 with only the Portico and Dome finished. Wilkins original plans were not to be completed until the 20th century: The Main Building was finally finished in 1985, 158 years since the foundations were laid, with a formal opening ceremony by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

Main Building

Main Building is a common name for a building on some university and college campuses serving as home to administrative offices, such as president or provost.

Canada

Hong Kong

Iceland

Philippines

Russia

Sweden

United Kingdom

United States

(by state then city)

Main Building (University of Kentucky)

Main Building is a four-story administration and classroom building for the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. It houses some administrative offices for the University, the President's office, numerous conference rooms, several classrooms, and a visitors center.

History

Dedicated on February 15, 1882, the Main Building is the only survivor out of the four buildings which originally housed State College. It was designed using brick, embellished with stone work and was completed at a cost of $81,000. Previous funding attempts had failed, which led to a statement by the then State College President James Patterson to pledge his entire personal wealth "as collateral" to see the project completed. The building was dedicated on February 15, 1882, the same day White Hall and the President's House were completed.

The original Main Building featured a 157 ft (48 m) high cupola with a clock and the "captain's walk" used by the local Weather Observatory. Over time from the building's completion to 1919, the cupola progressively shrank in size; after 1919, the roof took on a "gabled appearance" that characterized the structure until the fire in 2001. During the administration of President Henry Barker (1911–1917), there was a plan to reconstruct the front of the Main Building to include stone pillars but was abandoned soon after it was initiated. In 1918, a campus post office and bookstore was located in the basement but both were relocated in 1925. In 1919, a cafeteria was added but removed in 1929.

Prudential Headquarters

Prudential Financial, as it is known today, began as The Widows and Orphans Friendly Society in 1875. For a short time it was called the Prudential Friendly Society, and for many years after 1877 it was known as the Prudential Insurance Company of America, a name still widely in use. Based in Newark, New Jersey, the company has constructed a number of buildings to house its headquarters downtown in the Four Corners district. In addition to its own offices, the corporation has financed large projects in the city, including Gateway Center and Prudential Center. Prudential has about 5,200 employees in the city.

Prudential Home Office

The original Prudential buildings from the turn of the 20th century were early examples of steel framing in Newark, clad in gray Indiana limestone with Romanesque Gothic styling, the work of George B. Post. The four buildings were known as the Main, the North, the West, and the Northwest and were the tallest in the city at the turn of the 20th century. They were demolished in 1956 to make way for the current headquarters. The proposed 45-story Prudential Tower would have been one of the tallest in Newark had it been built.