The
following description of the
Rockne
Memorial
Building is from
the superb guide book, Notre Dame, the Official Campus
Guide, by Damaine Vonada. It's available in the book
section at:
http://www.irishlegends.com/Pages/guidebk.html
Chemistry Hall (Crowley
Hall of Music)
Until 1916, this
two-story building was a three-story building. That's when a
chemistry experiment gone awry caused an explosive
phosphorus fire. The sparks not only cost the hall its top
floor, but also prompted the construction of a dedicated
chemistry building (now Riley Hall). Probably no classroom
building on campus has been recycled as many times as
Crowley Hall. It was originally used for engineering, then
pressed into service for chemistry, pharmacy, architecture,
law, psychology, and music, and at one point it a military
recreation center. As the hall’s identity
shifted, so did its name. The aliases began with Institute
of Technology, then changed to Hoynes College of Law, and
finally ended with Crowley Hall of Music in 1976.
One of
Notre Dame's oldest structures, this rather dainty-looking
brick building is located near the southeast corner of Main
Quad and was built in 1893. It was another one of Father
Zahm’s pet projects, and he worked with Brother Harding to
design a proper facility for engineering students. The
engineers quickly outgrew this hall, and after they vacated
it 1900s, the succession of diverse tenants began. In the
mid-1970s, the hall was adapted for the last time when it
was outfitted with studios and rehearsal rooms to become the
newest home of Notre Dame’s expanding Department of Music.
This fine tuning occurred courtesy of John B. Caron, class
of 1945, a New York industrialist and university trustee.
His gift was made in memory of his brother-in-law, Patrick
F. Crowley, a Chicago attorney who was graduated from Notre
Dame in 1933. Mr. Crowley and his wife Patricia played a
principal role in founding the international Christian
Family Movement, and in 1966, they were the first couple
ever to receive the university's Laetare Medal.
The
Department of Music has a 150-year history that can be
traced to the beginnings of the university. Music, in fact,
was so important to Notre Dame's founders that a music hall
was one of the first major buildings they constructed on
campus. That 1846 hall, like so many of Notre Dame's early
buildings, was lost to fire, but music instruction at the
university would both survive and continue to thrive,
particularly in the area of sacred and liturgical music.
With the university's introducing a fine arts requirement
and going co- ed in the 1970s, the music department grew
rapidly and is now renowned for its many first-rate
performing groups. The two oldest of those groups,
incidentally, also happen to be the most famous: the Glee
Club, founded in 1915, and the Marching Band, which started
circa 1846.