LeRoy E. Cowles Building

LeRoy E. Cowles, sixth president of the University of Utah, served Utah education his entire professional life, following his education at the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. studies at the University of California. He taught high school in Heber City, Ogden and Price before joining the Education faculty at the University in 1914. His presidency, 1941-1946, spanned the difficult World War II years when the University was greatly affected by the war effort. Classes were added in military science, economics and philosophy of war, and programs began in Army pre-flight, Navy V-1 and ROTC. One of the far-reaching academic achievements of the period was expansion of the medical program into a four-year Medical School.

This building is one of the first three constructed on this East bench campus. It was opened in 1900 as the Library Building but was only partially completed. Later the liberal arts departments were located here and it was affectionately known as the “L” building. From 1951 to 1975 the Mathematics Department was housed here. Since 1975 the Communications Department has been principal occupant of this campus landmark. In ceremonies sponsored by the Alumni Association on May 2, 1980, the building was officially named for LeRoy E. Cowles.

Located at 1425 Presidents’ Circle in the U of U Circle Historic District in Salt Lake City, Utah

LIBRARY/COMMUNICATIONS BUILDING–One of the original buildings designed by Richard Kletting and completed in 1901. It too is Second Renaissance Revival, with rusticated sandstone foundations and pressed hard brick walls. It is very similar to the Physical Science Building with the hip roof, window treatment and horizontal quality but is distinguished by its entrance which has two ionic columns supporting a portico in front of the double arched doorway. It was originally named the Library because a library occupied an L-shaped room on the west and north sides of the first floor. The library contained 12,950 volumes and there were seats for 100 students. In 1913 the library was moved to the newly completed Park building and the structure was renamed the Liberal Arts Building. In November 1957 the Mathematics department took over the building and it was renamed the Mathematics Building. The Math department moved out in December of 1975 and it was temporarily named the Communications Building on February 12, 1976. The building has had very little interior renovation despite the many changes in functions. The wooden joists are still exposed. The exterior has been unaltered except for the replacement of the wooden front doors with metal ones made as closely to the original as possible.*