If the brickwork looks kind of amateurish on this building there's a good reason. Students built it. This is the campus's second building and it was a big deal when construction started. When the cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1856, the area's pioneers came from miles around to celebrate and listen to the band. Remember, live music in those days was a rare treat.

The college was so poor back then that hiring an architect was out of the question. The design was plucked from a book. This building has contained laboratories, student organizations, a library, gymnasium, an armory for the Cornell Cadets and administrative offices.

Today it's sometimes referred to as "Old Main." The building houses classrooms, including the Humanities Technology Classroom, and offices for the departments of Economics and Business; Education; History; Sociology and Anthropology; and Classical and Modern Languages.