I'm talking to you, Jabbo.: Looking for Lincoln with Lisa

So, Mom came for a visit in October and we knocked down a few more Lincolns. We took a trip to Springfield and toured the Lincoln Museum on Saturday. On Sunday, we toured campus and I finally gained access to the legendary Lincoln Hall. All the pictures in this post were taken by Lisa Webb, unless she's in the picture, obviously.

Lincoln #13
I saw this on my first trip to Springfield. As we were driving away. Remember Union Park? The square with the Richardsonian Romanesque Union Station, the Acts of Intolerance statue, and Lincoln #7? On the other side of the park, a bronze Lincoln sits on a bench. Which affords one excellent photographic opportunities.

Mark Lundeen of Colorado sculpted this Lincoln, installed in 2006. In his hand, he holds a copy of his second inaugural address.

Lincoln delivered the short speech March 4, 1865 as he began his second term as president. He used the opportunity to defend his moderate plan for Reconstruction. Lincoln intended the reunification of the states to proceed as swiftly and painlessly as possible. Under his original plan, the US would readmit former Confederate states when 10% of the state's population voted to re-join the union. Lincoln allowed states that had already met the requirements to form their own Reconstruction governments and planned to grant suffrage to former Confederate officials. Lincoln said:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

In the midterm elections, however, the Radical Republicans swept Congress and Johnson lost control of the party. The new, more stringent measures Congress adopted dissolved the civilian governments in former Confederate states and regrouped them into military districts administered and supervised by the the US Army. The resulting Reconstruction became a long and painful affair.

Attending the second inaugural address was actor John Wilkes Booth. He would see Lincoln again, 41 days later, at Ford's Theater.

Lincoln Hall
Commissioned by the State Legislature in 1909, Lincoln Hall honored the president who signed the Morrill Land Grant Act, without which, the University of Illinois would never have existed. Costing $250 thousand ($6 million in Today Dollars), the building opened its doors onto the main quad in 1911. Judge Simeon W. King, the last surviving pallbearer from Lincoln's funeral, attended the dedication ceremony.

Carved on the outside of the building, according to trusty internet sources, you'll find 10 terra cotta panels depicting scenes from Lincoln's life, 20 portraits of individuals influential in his life, 15 quotes, and (inexplicably) 69 owls.

The eastern entrance hall features a bronze plaque inscribed with the Gettysburg Address as well as...

Lincoln #14
This 1923 Lincoln comes to us courtesy of Hermon Atkins MacNeil, designer of the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter and the sculptures on the Eastern Pediment of US Supreme Court Building (the one with Moses).

We arrived just in time. Starting in 2010, Lincoln Hall underwent $58 million in renovations. They removed the bust and gave it a $6,800 face lift. Including a nose job. So many students had rubbed the nose over the years, that the patina wore off and you could see the shiny bronze underneath. Like all the other Lincolns we've seen. Patina People expertly reapplied a patina to this schnoz, but, as you can see, it's started to wear thin again.

In October of 1979, the bust mysteriously disappeared. It turned up sitting on a tree stump on the 8th hole of the University Golf Course. A note delivered to the Daily Illini, allegedly written by the statue, saying, “Gone out for a breath of fresh air. I’ll be back by the end of the week.”

Architecture Stuff
All state funded building projects are designed by the State Architect. W. Carbys Zimmerman, who held the office for 9 years, drew up the plans for the Lincoln Hall. The building has no official architectural style, but according to the only source who has anything to say about this (Melvyn Skvarla), Lincoln Hall represents a combination of Italian Renaissance and Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style.

The ceilings are done in plaster and gold and silver leaf, as you can see in the 650 seat theater, still used for classes.

If you take our favorite arch, the Roman arch, and stretch it out like a Caramello, you get a Barrel Vault. Lincoln Hall has one. All proper Italian Renaissance buildings do.

You'll also find in Italian Renaissance buildings coffered ceilings. Back when builders only had stone to work with, ceilings could get heavy. If you coffer the ceiling, that is, fill it with a bunch of holes, it lightens the load and looks spiffy. Now, in the days of concrete, steel, and plaster, a coffered ceiling no longer has a physical function, but it still looks spiffy.