{"nrhp_refnum":"86003148","name":"Chemical Laboratory","other_names":["Harker Hall"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1305 W. Green St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Urbana","county":"Champaign County","state":"IL","lat":40.108977726000035,"lon":-88.22665156299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-11-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Chemical Laboratory, now called Harker Hall, is a brick university building at 1305 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois, on the University of Illinois campus. It was designed by Nathan Clifford Ricker and built by N. C. Terrill & Co. around 1877-1878.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as Nathan Clifford Ricker's first major built work, reflecting his philosophy of combining historical reference with current technology. It followed the Second Empire style of University Hall at the trustees' direction. It housed one of the best and largest laboratory facilities in the country when completed. It later served the College of Law, with alterations by James M. White.","narrative":"Harker Hall, originally the Chemical Laboratory, is a brick building on West Green Street on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. Nathan Clifford Ricker, Professor of Architecture, designed it, and N. C. Terrill and Co. of Kankakee built it in the late 1870s. Architecture students made its millwork in the campus woodshop, and several worked as drafters. Trustees required the Second Empire style of University Hall, though Ricker's design went beyond copying it. Working with a chemistry professor, he produced a laboratory regarded as one of the best and largest in the country. A fire in 1896 destroyed the roof and much of the interior, and James M. White replaced the mansard roof with a hip roof on Howe trusses. After 1902 the building served the College of Law, gaining a skylit library with glass-floored stacks. It is significant as Ricker's first major built work, and it is now used by the School of Life Sciences.","period_of_significance":"1876-1927","architect_builder":"Nathan Clifford Ricker/N. C. Terrill & Co.","architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":[],"status_note":"Currently occupied by the School of Life Sciences and used for classrooms, instructional laboratories and some office space.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.482652-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/39/8907/28890739/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/86003148.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003148/1924bc79bc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003148/1924bc79bc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0 us","author":"Dori","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HarkerHall_Urbana_Illinois_4557.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dori</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0 us</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HarkerHall_Urbana_Illinois_4557.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28890739","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harker_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18151372"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/champaign-county/chemical-laboratory-86003148/"}