Date of Construction: 1976
Architect/Designer: John Carl Warnecke & Associates; James Nelson, Architects Studio
Construction Manager: Frederick G. Krapf and Sons
Current Function: lecture classrooms; History Media Center
Kirkbride Lecture Hall is a three-story, semicircular building with brick veneer accented with white concrete. A two-level arcade around the exterior provides access to seven lecture halls, ranging from 80 to 250 seats. The wedge-shaped rooms are arranged around a central hub containing audio-visual services. Originally, the name "Kirkbride Hall" also applied to the adjacent block of classrooms and offices now known as "Ewing Hall." The two buildings were constructed as part of the same project.
Kirkbride Lecture Hall was named for Raymond Watson Kirkbride, founder of the University's first Junior Year Abroad Program. Kirkbride participated in the evacuation ambulance corps in France during World War I and attended the University of Grenoble. He joined Delaware College as an assistant professor of French in 1919 and began the first Junior Year Abroad in 1923. Students in Kirkbride's program lived with provincial families for several months while refining their language abilities then moved to the University of Paris. Although Kirkbride's poor administrative and financial management skills exasperated President Hullihen, the program was popular with students from the University of Delaware and became a model for programs at other institutions. Kirkbride retired due to illness in 1928 and died in 1929. The University of Delaware established a memorial library in his name at the Paris headquarters, and the French Government declared him "Officier d'Academie," "Officier de l'Instruction Publique," and "Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur." The Junior Year Abroad program was suspended during World War II and discontinued in 1948. The university eventually sponsored similar programs in several countries.
Kirkbride Hall currently contains lecture halls for the College of Arts and Science.
