Ayres Hall Architectural Relative

The architectural firm of Miller, Fullenwider and Dowling of Chicago designed Ayres and Morgan Halls. Morgan Hall echoes Ayres’ architecture but lacks the tower and grander elements of the design. The firm used the Ayres plans for their design of the Olmstead Administration Building at the University of Evansville, built in 1921–22. That facility is built of Indiana limestone blocks of various shades and widths. The ends of the blocks were not sawed, but broken, with none of the straight vertical joints used in the era. The Omstead Administration Building is believed to be the first instance in which Bedford stone was used in this way in the United States. The differences between Ayres and Olmstead make them fraternal, not identical, twins. Miller, Fullenwider and Dowling designed buildings in varied architectural styles on several campuses other than UT—among them the Law Hall Technology Center at Cornell (1924) and France Hall at Heidelberg College (1925 to 1926).