Places and spaces

JJ Bauer, teaching assistant professor in the department of art and history, helps illuminate the stories behind Carolina's buildings in a book on campus architecture. (photo by Donn Young)

An updated version of art professor John Allcott’s seminal The Campus at Chapel Hill: Two Hundred Twenty-Five Years of Architecture was published this fall. The 1986 book is filled with historical photos, rare documents, Allcott’s whimsical sketches and stories of some of the people behind the buildings, which date back to 1793.

An addendum by JJ Bauer, visual resources curator and teaching assistant professor in the department of art and art history, showcases seven significant building projects since 1986.

This whimsical sketch by John Allcott of ballroom dancing in Smith Hall (now Playmakers Theatre) is featured in the book.

Asked to sum up the look and feel of the University since then, Bauer responded, “Clearly tradition still has a stronghold.”

“Even with as modern a building as the FedEx Global Education Center or the Genome Sciences Building, you recognize elements of tradition. The red brick, for instance, is a constant. But on a philosophical level, one of the things that makes the campus so attractive is all of the open plazas and spaces for just hanging out,” she said.

“This idea that it’s about making places and spaces is still very much a part of UNC-Chapel Hill.”

The book is available through the Chapel Hill Historical Society and local bookstores.

Read a longer story about the book.

Published in the Fall 2019 issue | Finale