Portal:Oregon/Selected article/30

Waller Hall is the oldest building on the campus of Willamette University in Salem. Built in 1867 as University Hall, the five-story, brick structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The building has been gutted twice by fires with the interior rebuilt each time, and went through renovations in 1987–1989 and 2005. From 1872 when the Oregon Institute building burned down until 1906 the building was the only permanent structure on campus. Built in the Renaissance style of architecture, it is currently used for administration offices and is the oldest university building west of the Mississippi River in the U.S. still in use. Waller Hall is located on the north end of campus opposite the Oregon State Capitol building across State Street. All of the bricks used in the construction were fired on campus using clay excavated from the construction site in order to build the foundation. The school renamed the building in 1912 to Waller Hall in honor of longtime university trustee Alvin F. Waller. Waller is used for administrative functions, including housing the office of the university's president (as of 2008 M. Lee Pelton), and contains the Cone Chapel.