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Circa 1915. "Catholic University, Washington. Main building." Which has a certain Gothic majesty in monochrome. National Photo glass negative. View full size.
Below is the same view from June of 2017.
When Caldwell Hall (at first called Divinity Hall) opened in 1889, the Washington Post sent a reporter to cover it: "The architecture is massive, simple and severe. There are no insulated columns, no pointed arches or intricate ornamentation. It depends for its effects upon the eye on its severe simplicity of outline and harmonious proportions." Notice he used the word "severe" twice in that one paragraph.
That's Caldwell Hall, all right. I recognize the striped window-coverings -- those are still there! And the top floor is said to be haunted. The area around it looks completely different now, unfortunately.
It took me a few seconds to figure out what's odd about this image. The usual perspective distortion that's created from tilting the camera up is reversed. The photographer must have tilted the film plane down and raised the lens. I'll have to try this next time I'm shooting an imposing building with the 4x5 as it's a kind of interesting effect.
With all due respect to Anonymous Alumnus, this is Caldwell Hall, the oldest building on campus, still fully in use. It is the center of the Theology School, which makes the Gothic majesty fully appropriate.
I went to Catholic. That's Marist Hall.
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