Encyclopedia Trinitiana

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{{tag>places}}
====== Seabury Hall (Original Campus) ======
[{{:10.2307_community.33120336-1.jpg?300 | Seabury Hall, 1877. Photo credit: [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.33120336|Trinity College Archives]]}}]

Seabury Hall (1825) was the second building constructed for [[washington_college|Washington College]] on the [[old_campus|original campus]]. In addition to serving as the original [[chapel|chapel]] for the college, Seabury Hall housed recitation rooms, offices, a library, and the [[museum_of_natural_history|cabinet]]. Originally called "The Chapel," it was renamed Seabury Hall in 1845 after [[seabury_samuel|Samuel Seabury]], the first [[episcopal|Episcopal]] Bishop of Connecticut. 

According to Trinity tradition, the building was designed by Samuel F. B. Morse, who later invented the telegraph. However, there is no evidence to support this claim. Rather, it is more likely that Seabury Hall was designed by Solomon Willard, whose signature was present on a drawing of [[jarvis_hall_old_campus|Jarvis Hall]]. Willard was an architect in Greek Revival style from the 1820s until the 1840s. 

The building was constructed of brownstone in the Greek Revival style and was 87 feet long and 55 feet wide. 
When it was completed in 1825, Seabury Hall consisted of three stories with a portico entrance marked by Ionic columns and a bell tower at the rear of the structure. The space for the Chapel was a 50 by 35-foot room within the ground floor of the building; an [[chapel_organ|organ]] was installed in 1850. The rest of the first floor contained the chemical laboratory, with a lecture room that contained graduated seating.

The library was on the second floor above the Chapel, with the remainder of the floor taken up by the natural philosophy department (above the chemical laboratory) and the quarters of the [[athenaeum|Athenaeum Society]].

[{{ :oldcampus_destruction.jpg?250|Trinity College Old Campus, View from northeast of the columns of Seabury Hall (1825-1878) during demolition in 1878. Photo credit: [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.2661603|Trinity College Archives]]}}]

By the 1860s, the College [[trustees|Trustees]] were discussing plans to build a new chapel, as the existing one was deemed too small. These plans never came to fruition, though the existing chapel was slightly refurbished in 1873 with a new carpet and cushions. At that time, however, College officials had already enacted plans to move the campus. By the middle of 1872, the land on which the College was located was sold to the State of Connecticut for the construction of a new capitol building. That same year, Trinity's Trustees purchased the land which the [[summit_campus|Summit Campus]] now occupies. 

In the summer of 1878, Seabury Hall on the old campus was demolished, and one of the first [[long_walk|Long Walk]] buildings constructed on the new Summit Campus was given the name [[seabury_hall|Seabury]].

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===== Sources =====

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/w_books/4/|The History of Trinity College]] (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 27, 36, 135, 154, 176-177, 186.

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/tablets/7/|Trinity Tablet]], June 1908, pp. 114-116.

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