The Campus Trinity

On Trinity Hall’s 75th anniversary, we look back at the history and architecture of CSU, Chico’s three favorite buildings

By Taran March
Photos by Beiron Andersson

From the hub of CSU, Chico, three dignified, tree-shaded buildings—Kendall Hall, Trinity Hall, and Laxson Auditorium—lend the campus their air of timeless permanence. Seasons shift and students graduate, but these buildings abide, setting the architectural tone for new structures while drawing viewers’ imaginations toward a cloistered past. As anyone who’s seen them can attest, they look and feel exactly right. Standing within the gracious campus arboretum, they project a halls-of-learning grandeur and demonstrate that form indeed follows function.

Out of the ashes

It wasn’t always so. Although the monastic/scholastic effect of the University’s “core three” was intentional on the part of their architect, Chester Cole (1883–1938), the buildings themselves came into being as a result of an unexpected disaster. They rose, aptly enough, from the ashes of the Normal School building, the original Chico State Teachers College, after that ivy-covered edifice burned to the ground on August 12, 1927, ending its nearly 40 years in service to scholarship. The site itself, formerly an eight-acre cherry orchard, had been deeded to the college by John Bidwell, but on that hot summer night, neither philanthropy nor philosophy was respected.

“All through the night the flames raged,” laments one witness in the 1928 edition of The Record, the college yearbook, “greedily licking from room to room, until at length the entire structure was one huge furnace of roaring flames which sent up a cloud of sparks that could be seen for miles.” Gone were all student records, past and present, as well as the library, the largest collection of any teachers college on the West Coast at the time. Some of the volumes had been donated by the Bidwells.

The state quickly agreed to a program of reconstruction and expansion. Teachers colleges were giving way to public universities that could, according to educational reformers like John Dewey, improve individuals and, by extension, society as a whole. The fire, although destructive and costly at an estimated $500,000 in damages, presented an opportunity to move in that direction. (To illustrate the relative worth of a half-million dollars in 1929, Cole in a 1932 letter to the American Institute of Architects inquired about a payment plan for his $25 dues.)

The architecture division of the state’s Department of Public Works outlined a 10-year, five-building agenda, beginning with a new administration and classroom building, today’s Kendall Hall (later named after University President Glenn Kendall, who served from 1950 to 1966). Also planned was an auditorium and music room, today’s Laxson Auditorium (later named for C. Robert Laxson, a University music professor from 1946 to 1968); a library with six classrooms, today’s Trinity Hall; a boiler house with four classrooms; and science classrooms. Ground was broken for the first building on March 8, 1929; afterward, college president Charles Merrill Osenbaugh solicited suggestions for a short inscription to grace the main entrance. “Today Decides Tomorrow,” which curves above the 12-paneled, medieval-style double door, was the inspiration of the college’s financial secretary, Emma Woolsey.

Designing duo: Cole and Brouchoud

When architect Chester Cole was asked to draw up plans for the new structures, he’d been designing buildings in and around Chico for 20 years. His 1926 application for membership in the American Institute of Architects indicates that he received his degree in architecture from the International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Cole specialized in designing schools. A list of completed projects printed on his stationery included 22 schools throughout Northern California, along with city halls, hotels, and commercial buildings. In Chico, in addition to the university buildings, he drew up plans for the Notre Dame, Citrus, and Linden schools. Elsewhere in town his work can be seen in the Bidwell Presbyterian Church (208 West 1st Street) adjacent to campus; the Chico Museum (141 Salem Street), formerly the public library; the Veterans Memorial Hall (900 Esplanade); and the imposing if prosaic Lobdell Cleaners building (1000 Main Street).

Cole practiced under the firm name Cole and Brouchoud. His associate, Louis Brouchoud, didn’t hold an architect’s license, so his name didn’t appear on the proposed college plans, but during a 1980s survey of Chico’s historic buildings, enough information accrued to safely credit him for much of the design detail on all three University buildings. His father, Joseph Brouchoud, a college art teacher in Paris, moved his family to the United States during the 1880s and steered them to San Francisco, where he designed stained glass windows for churches. Louis helped him in this craft, studied architecture for a time in San Francisco, and then moved to Chico in 1920. His decorative details can also be seen on the city museum, Veterans Memorial Hall, Citrus school, and numerous private homes.

Top: Kendall Hall, back of the west wing. Bottom: Laxson Auditorium, front entrance.

Collegiate Romanesque

Subsequent generations of University students and Chico residents can be grateful that Cole chose to design the buildings in the Romanesque Revival style, even though, by the late 1920s, modern architectural designs were beginning to muscle out earlier trends. That he did so could be due in part to the “Collegiate Romanesque” imperative that influenced university architects around the country. In California, Stanford University, University of Southern California, and University of California, Los Angeles all emphasize the Romanesque style, although each presents its own subtle interpretation. Chico’s Mediterranean climate readily supports Cole’s light, Italian-influenced design and ample use of brick, stucco, terracotta, and tile.

Architect Henry Hobson Richardson championed the Romanesque Revival in America during the 1870s. Characterized by cruciform stone or brick buildings, covered arcades of rounded arches, tiled roofs, domes, bell towers, and short columns with decorated capitals, it’s particularly suited to a university setting. During the original Romanesque period, from 1050 to 1140, monasteries were built to address many of the same needs as a modern campus: the church as a central meeting place or lecture hall; the chapter house as an administration building; the scriptorium as a library; the dorter and refectory as dormitory and dining hall, respectively; and the bell tower to summon either monks or students to their duties and divide the day into logical periods. Above all, the Romanesque style, with its enclosed quadrangles and connected buildings, lent itself to seclusion and study; it offered a place away from distractions in a setting that encouraged contemplation and high-minded pursuits.

These cloistered, closed spaces served practical needs as well—particularly for defense and conserving space in crowded medieval cities and towns. However, by 1557 the quadrangle had opened at one end, allowing in light and, according to designers of the day, more healthful living. Not surprising, colleges in the American colonies seized this element of spaciousness and expanded on it. Building academic halls in the countryside away from towns served the same purpose as enclosing monasteries within urban settings, according to Campus: An American Planning Tradition (MIT Press, Cambridge, 1984), but also allowed the benefits of nature to act upon students—not incidentally by keeping them away from brothels and beer halls.

Even within cities, though, U.S. colleges allocated enough space to situate buildings separately within pastoral settings. After touring Yale University in 1840, Charles Dickens remarked on this feature, describing buildings that were “erected in a kind of park … dimly visible among shadowing trees.” Had he been whisked forward some 170 years, he would have recognized the same penchant at Chico State.

Richard Thompson, a principal at the Los Angeles-based architectural firm AC Martin Partners and a consultant for the University’s current master plan, attributes a good deal of the institution’s ambience to its setting. “What elevates the Chico campus beyond just the architecture of its buildings (historical or modern) is its bucolic landscape setting,” he notes. “The mature trees, Chico Creek, the sense of being in a garden all enhance the quality of the campus environment beautifully and in some ways offset the less successful buildings and harmonize them with the entire campus.”

Up close and personalized

Some of the buildings’ best features—Kendall’s dome, Trinity’s bell tower, and Laxson’s arcade—are obvious, but others reveal themselves only after more scrutiny. Kendall’s south-facing formal entrance includes the impressive paneled doors under a porch with a triple-arched opening. Above, half-columns flank a circular opening suggesting a medieval rose window, which floats above three pairs of double windows. Brouchoud’s design work can be seen in the windows’ tracery, a common medieval motif of squares divided by crosses. More apparent are the flat-relief terracotta figures atop the square pillars at the entrance. These winged beasts, one a griffin, the other a monstrous lion with a horse’s head and stylized tail, are set in a foliated background.

Trinity Hall diverges from the standard cross shape to form a T, which was a common layout in Europe from the fourth through sixth centuries. Interestingly, Chester Cole originally designed Kendall and Trinity to connect on their south sides but at some point changed his mind. The separate buildings are less imposing but more effective, allowing Trinity’s 97-foot bell tower to counter the horizontal roofline. Aspiration made visible. The square tower, like much of the buildings’ features, emulates those built during the Romanesque period in Lombardy, Italy. Three blind arcades supported by two pilasters are echoed by a smaller line of arches just under the roofline, called coursing (see page 18). This detail, a common feature of Romanesque architecture, is apparent on all the buildings. The two pilasters are capped with foliation, birds, and head medallions. Denoting a celestial canopy, the belfry is supported by a double arcade of alternating smooth and spiral pillars.

Within its arcade, Laxson’s pillars are similarly adorned with acanthus leaves and heads. Not often seen is the small, cloister-like courtyard behind the backstage wall. It’s flanked by dressing rooms and the smaller auditorium in John C. Ayres Hall. Inside Laxson, ceiling beams in the lobby are decorated with repeated floral and geometric designs in red, green, yellow, and blue. Hanging lamps here are similar to votive “crown” lamps that date from the seventh century, most notably in Spain.

Setting an example

Among other challenges, CSU, Chico’s 2005 master plan is tasked with renovating old buildings or creating new ones on campus while maintaining its Romanesque theme. Creativity alone can’t address this problem. Along with the advent of modern architectural design, the Depression put an end to the Romanesque Revival through simple economics: The style was no longer cost-effective. Newer and cheaper material was becoming available; prestressed concrete, for example, was invented in 1928, the year the Normal building burned down.

Even the ubiquitous brick is out of reach for most building budgets. David Israel, a principal of BAR Architects in San Francisco, who with Mark Kelly designed the harmonious, four-storied Student Services Center that opened this summer, regrets this reality but also sees a place for modern material. “We chose to strike a balance reflecting the load-bearing nature of brick through the use of lintels, deep window recesses, and terracotta contrasted against a very nontraditional scale of window openings,” he explains. “Even non-load-bearing brick is very difficult and expensive to achieve within the state’s generic building budgets. As a result, we must both limit the area of its use and replicate the material details through lightweight, low-cost alternatives to simulate the traditional forms we’re trying to reflect.”

It doesn’t take a professional eye to see they succeeded admirably. The massive building draws attention without eclipsing nearby structures, provides a natural entryway for the south side of the campus, and—in keeping with the University’s mission to promote sustainability—achieves the LEED gold certification, a third-party verification that a building project is environmentally responsible and energy efficient. And it still manages to suggest a Romanesque style.

Thompson points out how the Student Services Center’s architects downplayed its size to harmonize with other structures. “They thoughtfully articulated the overall mass of the building by changing the height and setback of various components,” he observes. “This makes it more human in scale, another of the strengths of the historical core buildings.”

Israel reveals that integrating, rather than reproducing, Romanesque elements in the new building carried the day. “The use of red brick and terracotta, along with the robust scale of the cornices, trim, and primary entry (albeit highly simplified in comparison), are the clearest links to the Romanesque style,” he says. “Incorporating these elements without trying to imitate them in a Disneyesque way reflects the new building’s respect for the campus history while honestly addressing the reality that time and construction techniques have changed.”

Hunting the Elusive Details

The best way to master architectural terminology is to look it in the face. The following terms are common in Romanesque designs, and examples of each can be found in and on Kendall and Trinity halls and Laxson Auditorium.

ARCH A curved structure used as a support over an open space. All three buildings.

ARCHITRAVE The lowest part of a beam that rests on a column. Laxson stage.

BASE The foot of a column or pilaster. Kendall and Laxson entryways.

CAPITAL The top part of a column or pilaster. Kendall and Laxson entryways.

CHEVRON A decorative zigzag of material on a building. Kendall.

FOLIATION A leaflike decoration consisting of small arcs and foils. Kendall.

GROIN A sharp, curved edge formed at the junction of two intersecting vaults. Kendall’s dome is called an octagonal groin dome. Kendall and Laxson.

LOMBARD BAND A round-arched decorative band adorning a building. All three buildings.

NARTHEX A church porch, usually attached to a west face. Kendall’s entryway.

PIER A heavy column used to support weight. A compound pier incorporates a rectangular core with a half-column on its lateral sides. Kendall and Laxson entryways.

PILASTER A rectangular support treated as a column. Trinity bell tower.

SHAFT The cylindrical length between a base and a pillar. Half-shafts adorn the south wing of Trinity.

Thanks to CSU, Chico art history professor Yoshio Kusaba for permission to use material from his article, “The Past in the Present: Medieval Sources of Chico Campus Buildings” (The University Journal, No. 33, 1988).

About the author

Taran March (BA, English, ’89) is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Cherokee, California.