The President’s Office Is Open To The Public, Sept. 22

Sept. 13, 2000
University Park, Pa. — Faculty and staff, students and parents, members of the community and friends are all invited to the President’s Open House from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22, in 201 and 205 Old Main on the University Park campus.

Visitors can meet President Graham Spanier, Vice President Janis Jacobs, and other key staff members for a tour of the University’s executive offices. It’s, an opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of historic Old Main.

Visitors can also enjoy light refreshments and impromptu performances by the Penn State Magicians (President Spanier is faculty adviser to this student club) as well as take a tour of the Old Main Tower. The Lion Ambassadors will help welcome visitors.

Constructed in 1930 with stones from the original Old Main built in 1863, the Federal Revival building was designed by Charles Klauder as a student union with part of one floor reserved for the offices of senior administrators. In addition to the six-story tower, which is open to the public only a few times a year, visitors can see the famous "Land Grant" frescoes, painted by noted American artist Henry Varnum Poor.

If you want a preview or if you are unable to attend, you can always visit the president’s office virtually by going to http://www.psu.edu/ur/President/ on the Web.

FAST FACTS ON OLD MAIN — Old Main Open House, Friday, Sept. 22

• The first Old Main, designed by Penn State Trustee Hugh McAllister with limestone quarried from the Old Main lawn, was completed in 1863 and included classrooms, labs, administrative and faculty offices, a chapel and rooms for 400 students. By the late 1920s the building had become structurally unsafe and was razed in 1929.
• The current building, which opened in 1930, was designed as an administrative center and student union, including a sandwich shop, editorial space for the Daily Collegian and offices for student organizations.
• The bell tower contains the clock — with modernized works — from the first Old Main, and the Westminster chimes were added in 1937 and are now run by computer.
• The Land-Grant frescos in the Old Main Lobby were created between 1940 and 1949 by Henry Varnum Poor, who used the fresco technique by applying water-mixed paint directly to fresh plaster so that the pigment became part of the wall. They are open to the public during regular week-day business hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.