{"nrhp_refnum":"84003191","name":"Roberts Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Cornell University campus","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ithaca","county":"Tompkins County","state":"NY","lat":42.44870866600007,"lon":-76.47856794699999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-09-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Roberts Hall is a brick administration and classroom building on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York, on the north side of Tower Road. It was built in 1905-07 as the central pavilion of a three-building complex.","why_significant":"It is significant as one of the first buildings constructed for the new New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell. Its design mixes traditional motifs with a practical character suited to a public agricultural education program. It is also an essentially unaltered example of the work of State Architect George L. Heins.","narrative":"Roberts Hall is a four-story masonry building on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, built in 1905-07 as the Main, or Administration, Building of the new New York State College of Agriculture. It forms the center of a three-part group joined by loggias to Stone and East Roberts Halls. State Architect George L. Heins designed the group, and Morris Kantrowitz built it. Rock-faced sandstone, iron-spot and buff brick, terra cotta and limestone give the exterior varied texture, while the south entrance carries Beaux-Arts ornament, including a medallion of Ezra Cornell and a sculpted state seal. Inside, an open iron central stairwell rises through all floors. The hall originally held classrooms, laboratories, offices, a library and a 600-seat assembly room, and it was named in 1914 for Isaac P. Roberts, an early agriculture director. It matters as part of the college's first buildings and as a little-altered work by Heins. Later changes include a slate roof replaced with asphalt shingles in 1977.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"George L. Heins, State Architect; builder Morris Kantrowitz","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts eclecticism, with Renaissance and Classical decorative elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"In use for classrooms, offices and labs, as it was originally; condition rated fair. A threat of proposed demolition is marked on the inventory form.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.22063-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/84003191.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003191/d0b4269980-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003191/d0b4269980-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Kenneth C. Zirkel","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roberts_Hall,_Cornell_University_in_1987.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kenneth C. Zirkel</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roberts_Hall,_Cornell_University_in_1987.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315160","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberts_Hall_(Ithaca,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7352015"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/tompkins-county/roberts-hall-84003191/"}