The old will soon become new for one Ohio State buildings, now in the process of coming back to life.
Page Hall was built in 1903 to house the OSU Law School, which it did until 1959 when the new law school was built. The building is being renovated, and it will soon house the John Glenn Institute.
The building is named after Henry Folsom Page, an Ohio attorney, who, with no ties to the university, bequeathed his entire fortune to OSU. No one knows why. Coinciding with the building’s completion, the last of numerous legal proceedings involving the university and Page’s family about the dispersion of his estate ended, and OSU was granted the $200,000 of Page’s donation. In honor of this charitable act, the new law school building was officially named “Page Hall,” though many students wanted it to be named “Hunter Hall,” after the law school dean at the time.
Page Hall was the ninth building constructed at OSU, and it cost about $100,000 to build. It has held offices for numerous entities including: The State Health Department, the old College of Commerce and Journalism and the College of Music. The Fisher College of Business occupied the building from 1960 until 1998 when it moved to its new location.
All that remains of the classical architecture are the exterior walls, four robust columns and a grand front porch. Though the building is gutted and soon will be the setting of something completely novel to its grounds, Page Hall is a souvenir of a time when OSU was only pursuing greatness.
In its halls and rooms, many students gained knowledge of the curriculum and of OSU itself. The building, original in design, defines campus in a way no other can. Once a magnificent structure, now partly antiquated, it is preparing to come to life again to be the site of realized ideals and as a standard of the institution that is The Ohio State University.
