The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

E. H. Young Theatre (housed in Blackstone Hall, Main Campus)

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E. H. Young Theatre (housed in Blackstone Hall), Berry College

Institution Name: Berry College
Original/Historic Place Name: Blackstone Dining Hall
Location on Campus: main campus, south side of Thespian Way.
Date(s) of Construction:

1915	original construction

Designer: unknown
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Beaux-Arts classicism (Glossary)
Significance: education, history
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: concrete with brick piers, partial basement

Walls: solid brick (interior and exterior)

Roof: tar and gravel

Function:

1915-1926	library (in rooms over the front entrance)
1915-1978	dining hall (men's)
1981-1991	academic department building (military science)
1982-present (2006)	theater (E.H. Young theater and Laboratory occupies the main part of the building)

Narrative:
Blackstone Hall, the first permanent brick building on the Berry campus and the first men's dining hall, sits among large oak trees facing Hoge Building, the original recitation hall. The red-brick building is an imposing example of neoclassical design, with its thick, white, Doric columns and porch the width of the building.

The front section of the building is two stories high; the central part is one story, originally with high ceilings and now modified to house the Berry College Theatre. A Berry professor designed and built the theatre with student assistance in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original kitchen and office areas at the rear serve as departmental offices and storage areas. In addition, the basement houses one faculty office and the set design laboratory.

References:

Berry Trails: An Historic and Contemporary Guide to Berry College. Third edition. Mt. Berry, GA: Berry College, 2001.

Dickey, Ouida, and Doyle Mathis, eds. Martha Berry: Sketches of Her Schools and College. Atlanta: Wing Publishers, 2001.

Thomas, Kenneth H., Jr. The Berry Schools [Berry College]. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1978.