John Shearer: Historic Room At UTK’S Hoskins Library Restored

In a University of Tennessee at Knoxville building that for years was full of novels and research books, a tale of historic preservation with a happy ending has emerged.

Due to some damage from recent rains – including the infamous hailstorm of 2011 – the plaster in an arch-lined and iconic main room of the 85-year-old Hoskins Library was successfully repaired recently.

“We had some water damage from a roof leak,” said UT senior painter Bill Mills. “The plaster was peeling and bubbling away because the water went between the plaster and the window ledges.

“It caused a lot of water damage, so we had to come in and take off the old plaster that was peeling away and re-plaster everything.” 

As the work was being done, multiple painters and workers were on high scaffolding examining and scraping away the damaged plaster with the carefulness of a graduate researcher.

According to Mr. Mills, the problems had originated with the tile roof that was damaged during the 2011 storm, and that was fixed about a year ago. Problems had also existed with water getting through the metal-framed windows.

“Because of the windows and the way they were designed, water seeps in around the mud joints,” he said.

Workers put a sealant on the brick and made sure the plaster would not get wet again during a rain before they finished the work.          

Mr. Mills said the plaster in some of the older buildings at UT was made out of horsehair, but the new plaster features polymer. “It holds up better than the old stuff,” he said.

The UT employee for more than two decades has also been examining the building’s history as well as its physical makeup and said he has developed a deep appreciation for Hoskins.

“Anytime you can come in a place like this and not see it razed, but put back to close to its original look, is good,” he said.

According to some UT historical information found online, Hoskins Library was opened in 1931, although it was not named for former president James D. Hoskins until 1950. The western side of the building – which was designed by the noted Knoxville firm of Barber and McMurry, the architect of Grace Episcopal Church on Brainerd Road -- was added onto in 1959 and 1966.

Hoskins served as the main library for all students until 1969, when Hodges Library opened as the undergraduate library. Hoskins then began being used primarily for graduate research as well as continuing to store some archives. In recent years, Hoskins has housed the Army and Air Force ROTC departments, the map room, a storage facility for newspaper microfilm, and the offices for both the Papers of Andrew Jackson research project and teaching assistants.

I have frequented the building regularly in recent years looking for old articles in the Chattanooga and Knoxville papers on microfilm, and have become a fan of the building. I particularly love walking up the fancy staircase.

You can see worn places in the stairs where students no doubt have tried to find the shortest routes by the inside railings. No telling how many students contributed to the worn look. Perhaps football stars of yesteryear George Cafego and Johnny Majors were among them, as were those who distinguished themselves in scholarly areas.

And no telling how many romances blossomed in that building in stories no doubt as interesting as some of the novels that once lined the shelves.

This building that is frequented by few students other than those in ROTC seems to have a general sense of mystery to it to me, though. That is in part because of some rooms closed to the general public – including a giant room that was a main part of the library.

I have been fortunate to poke my head in it once or twice before, and it is fascinating to examine. It appears to need some restoration work, too.

Although the part where the plaster was repaired is plain, much of the building features plenty of artistic detail. The visible areas show large arches and Gothic windows, stained-glass windows made by the famed Charles Connick Studio of Boston, cork floor squares, interesting mid-century chairs in a newer section, and library-themed painting on the uniquely shaped ceilings.

The latter includes the names of people important in literature, arts, philosophy and science, and a number of literary-focused sayings or quotations.

“They put that up there because that was to celebrate the written word,” Mr. Mills said of the artwork.

Out of curiosity, I decided to jot down the names of the people on the ceilings around the top of the stairwell. They include Homer, Goethe, Dante, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Phidias, Raphael, Christopher Wren, Von Liebig, Pestalozzi, Pasteur, Adam Smith, Newton, Herodotus, Marco Polo, Gutenberg, Moses, Aristotle, Plato, and Archimedes.

Quotations on the ceiling of the nearby room that was recently restored include: “In books lies the soul of the whole past time” (Thomas Carlyle), “Books are for company the best friends and counselors,” “Wisdom adorns riches and shadows poverty” (Socrates), “The learned man hath always riches in hindsight,” and “Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom” (from Proverbs).

On a campus that is being rebuilt in numerous places and where other historic buildings are being torn down or greatly remodeled, old Hoskins Library makes quite a statement for the attractiveness of older architecture and construction.

Jcshearer2@comcast.net