Altgeld Hall

Built from 1895 to 1899, the "Administration Building" was renamed in 1963 for Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld who backed and signed the necessary legislation for the creation of the institution. Architects designed the building according to the wishes of the governor who had a fondness for the Tudor Gothic, or the English-castle style of architecture. The only building of the institution until the construction of McMurry Hall in 1911, Altgeld originally held eleven "grotesques" placed along the "battlements" and atop the central tower. Nine of the original eleven still maintain their places, and one now occupies a place in the east garden--a victim of lightening in 1973.