As has been discussed in previous posts entitled "The New Naval Academy That Never Was" and "The New Naval Academy That Never Was, Revisited," by the latter half of twentieth century, the Naval Academy's physical plant, its academic facilities in particular, were proving incapable of meeting the academy's needs. Spaces designed to educate a student body of 500 simply could not handle a student body of 4,000. After a master plan submitted in 1961 by Edward Durell Stone failed to gain the traction necessary for implementation, the job of reinvigorating the academic facilities of the academy fell to the firm of John Carl Warnecke and Associates - a firm which was already known within the federal government for its master plan for the preservation of Lafayette Square in Washington, DC.
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| Proposed conditions of the Naval Academy from Warnecke's 1965 master plan, highlighting the proposed science and mathematics building (Michelson and Chauvenet) and auditorium. |
Delivered to the Officer in Charge of Construction for the Chesapeake area in February 1965, Warnecke's first master plan attempted to grapple with the academy's 213,000 square foot shortfall in academic space with a modest program of new construction. The centerpiece of this plan was the construction of what Warnecke referred to as "an urgently needed science and mathematics facility," which was ultimately realized through the construction of Michelson and Chauvenet Halls.
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| Artist's rendering of Michelson and Chauvenet Halls. |
Like Stone's master plan, Warnecke's also called for the construction of a standalone auditorium to replace the 1,100-seat facility in Mahan Hall. Standing roughly where Rickover Hall is today, the new auditorium would have sat either 2,500 or 4,500 people, with the ability to stage lectures, concerts, movies, opera, and other musicals (if adopted, the larger size would have also allowed for "command communication," i.e. events requiring the seating of the entire Brigade of Midshipmen).
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| Schematic floor plans of Warnecke's proposed auditorium. |
The construction of a new auditorium would have consequently allowed for the expansion of the Naval Academy Library solely within the confines of Mahan Hall (as opposed to Stone's approach, which called for the expansion of the library into Sampson and Maury Halls, with the retention of Mahan Hall Auditorium). By converting the auditorium into a multi-level collection space, Warnecke hoped to achieve an expanded main library of 57,000 square feet with the capacity for 360,000 volumes and 600 patrons.
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| Model of Mahan Hall demonstrating the conversion of the auditorium into library book stacks, with proposed wings. This model was constructed explicitly to illustrate the difficulties in expanding Mahan Hall Library. |
Warnecke's 1965 master plan, like Stone's, also called for the retention and rehabilitation of the Isherwood-Melville-Griffin engineering complex, as well as the rehabilitation of Luce and Ward Halls. From that original plan, only Michelson and Chauvenet Hall were ultimately constructed. However, two years before those buildings were even dedicated, Warnecke submitted a second master plan with a more aggressive construction program.
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| Proposed conditions of the Naval Academy from Warnecke's 1967 master plan, highlighting the proposed library, engineering building, shared laboratory deck, and auditorium. |
Submitted to the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in August 1967, Warnecke's second Naval Academy master plan expanded upon what he referred to as the "Michelson Hall Concept." While still including the construction of a standalone auditorium, the new master plan called for the construction of a new library building and a new engineering building, both utilizing an expanded, integrated laboratory floor originating from Michelson and Chauvenet halls. As originally conceived, the new library, a facility capable of housing as many as 750,000 volumes and seating 1,450 patrons, would have sat adjacent to Dewey Field, with the new engineering building sitting in the space currently occupied by Nimitz Library. The proposed auditorium, designed to seat 2,500 at full capacity and convertible to 1,500 for dramatic productions, would sit at the confluence of Decatur and McNair Roads, requiring the demolition of the Isherwood engineering complex. Under this plan, the responsibility of hosting those events requiring the attendance of the entire Brigade in a single seating would have been shouldered by Halsey Field House, which would have been renovated to include 2,400 permanent fixed balcony seats and 2,500 rollaway bleacher seats.
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| Mezzanine plan for Halsey Field House showing proposed balcony seating. |
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| Transverse section of Halsey Field House showing permanent roll-away seating. |
In January 1969, a revision to the 1967 master plan was issued, whereby the locations and designs of the library and engineering buildings were altered to their final configurations. With the opening of Nimitz Library in 1973 and Rickover Hall in 1975, most of the pieces of Warnecke's master plan were finally in place.
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| Proposed conditions of the Naval Academy from Warnecke's 1969 master plan revision, highlighting the proposed library, engineering building, and auditorium. |
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| Architectural model of Nimitz Library and the proposed theater/auditorium. |
The one notable piece that was still missing was the auditorium (as well as the concurrent expansion of Halsey Field House). Despite being largely abandoned since the opening of Rickover Hall in 1975, the Isherwood complex continued to sit on the proposed auditorium site until 1982. With the site finally cleared and funding appropriated by Congress, construction of a 6,500 seat arena/auditorium began in December 1987. Completed in 1990 as the Brigade Activities Center, Alumni Hall hosted its first event in May 1990, finally providing the academy with a venue it had sought for more than fifty years. Although built to a design by the Washington, DC offices of the firm of Daniel, Mann, Johnson, and Mendenhall, Alumni Hall can nonetheless be seen as the final piece in the puzzle of the Warnecke Master Plan.
Sources:
Alumni Hall Reference File, RG 405, Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library.
Naval Academy Photograph Collection, 1845-1983, RG 405, Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library.
Special Collections Picture File, Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library.
United States Naval Academy Master Plan; a Program for Modernization and Expansion of Academic and Support Facilities. Washington, D.C: John Carl Warnecke and Associates, 1965.
United States Naval Academy Master Plan, 1967 Washington, D.C: [Prepared for Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Chesapeake Division by] J.C. Warnecke and Associates Architects and Planning Consultants, 1967.
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