{"nrhp_refnum":"79002191","name":"Ag Hill Complex","other_names":["Respiration-Calorimeter Building","Patterson Building","Armsby B"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Penn State University campus","address_restricted":false,"city":"State College","county":"Centre County","state":"PA","lat":40.799518406500056,"lon":-77.86457496768608,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-01-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A group of four early twentieth-century agricultural buildings on Agriculture Hill at The Pennsylvania State University in State College, Centre County, Pennsylvania: the Respiration-Calorimeter Building (circa 1900-1902), Patterson Building (1903), Armsby Building (1905-07) and Weaver Building (1914).","why_significant":"The nomination argues the complex marks the beginning of a strong agricultural program at Penn State and is associated with important agricultural experiments, especially the respiration-calorimeter research of Henry Prentiss Armsby. It also presents the buildings as a transitional stage in campus architecture, with the English Renaissance style designs by Edward S. Hazlehurst departing from earlier campus styles.","narrative":"Four brick buildings on Agriculture Hill at Penn State University in State College, built between about 1900 and 1914, form the Ag Hill Complex. The Respiration-Calorimeter Building, a small one-and-a-half-story structure with double walls to stabilize temperature, was completed in 1902 to house an apparatus that was one of only two such instruments in the world and the first designed for experiments on domestic animals. Henry Prentiss Armsby used it to publish his Principles of Animal Nutrition in 1903. The Patterson (1903), Armsby (1905-07) and Weaver (1914) buildings are English Renaissance designs by Philadelphia architect Edward S. Hazlehurst, built of mottled brick with terra-cotta and stone detailing. They were named for William Calvin Patterson, Henry Prentiss Armsby and Fred Pattison Weaver. Their construction coincided with a sharp rise in agricultural enrollment, from 45 students in 1906-07 to 767 in 1914-15.","period_of_significance":"1900-1914","architect_builder":"Edward S. Hazlehurst (architect)","architectural_style":"English Renaissance Style (Respiration-Calorimeter Building described with waning Richardsonian and Queen Anne modes)","criteria":[],"status_note":"The interior of the Respiration-Calorimeter Building has been restored; Patterson Building houses the Department of Entomology and the Frost Entomological Museum; Armsby Building and Weaver Building house academic departments.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.700626-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002191.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002191/0c0c901632-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002191/0c0c901632-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Infoadder2010","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Calorimeter.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Infoadder2010</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Calorimeter.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"81000538","name":"Farmers' High School","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/farmers-high-school-81000538/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998266","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ag_Hill_Complex","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133278667"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/centre-county/ag-hill-complex-79002191/"}