Smith Hall
The Board of Trustees officially named Smith Hall on September 1, 1958, in memory of University Architect Howard Dwight Smith. The building was mostly complete by June 1959, and it opened for the following autumn quarter.
Smith Hall, like Stradley, Park and Steeb, was originally an all-men’s dorm.
Howard Dwight Smith (1886-1958) graduated from Ohio State’s College of Engineering in 1907. He went on to get a second degree from Columbia University, but he returned to Ohio State in 1918 to join the faculty as a professor of architecture and University Architect.
From 1921-1929 he served as architect to the Columbus City Schools’ Board of Education, returning to his post as University Architect in 1929. As University Architect, he designed more than fifty buildings on campus, including the Thompson Library, Ohio Stadium, St. John Arena and the French Field House.
In 1921, the American Institute of Architects awarded him the Exhibition Gold Medal for his design of Ohio Stadium, and in 1955, the University awarded him with its Distinguished Service Award, for his devotion and performance as the University Architect.
He passed away in April 1958. In a memorial resolution issued after his death, the Board of Trustees said: “The many buildings on the Ohio State campus designed and built under his direction stand as a permanent tribute to his professional ability and integrity. To his students he is remembered as an idealist, who expected much from them, but who gave to his teaching much of himself. To his professional and academic colleagues, he is remembered as one who believed implicitly in serving his chosen profession of architecture.”
A $171 million South Campus dorm renovation project begun in 2011 includes connecting Smith and Steeb halls through an addition, which will add several hundred beds. The project also updates dorm rooms and adds air conditioning.
more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Smith Hall
