MacLaurin Hall - enlargement, photo, University Secretariat.

---

STAGE 1: FISHER LIBRARY 1909 - 1962

Between 1857 and 1909, the current Senate Room on the first floor in the Main Building was the location of the University's first Library. However, by 1879, the Library had outgrown the space allotted to it and the collection was distributed in rooms all over the Quadrangle.

— View images of the original Library Room.
— Read an article in the SMH, 13 July 1859, describing the Library in detail.

The Fisher Library was constructed between 1902 and 1909 as a separate purpose-built library, part of the south side of what was to become the Quadrangle. It had electic lighting, some 20 year before it was installed in the Great Hall.

The Library and the Museum were opened on 20 September 1909.

— Read "Thomas Fisher, the man behind the library", by Dr Julia Horne

The building accommodated:

• the Nicholson collection on the ground floor
• a large reading room for 150 readers on the first floor (now MacLaurin Hall)
• a refectory and service rooms in the basement
• six floors of book stacks at right angles forming part of the west side of the Quadrangle.

It was not until c1920 that the L-shaped Fisher Library and bookstack was linked to the Main Building by the Nicholson Vestibule and Gateway and the South range.

And it was not until 1926 that it was linked on the other side to the newly built Western Tower and North and North-west ranges.

---

Views of the completed and separate Fisher Library in 1908:

The Quadrangle side, with the Women's Common Room obscuring the cloister - enlargement.	View from the "University paddock" from the south - enlargement, photo 2, Library website.

---

The Reading Room, and a later view:

The Reading Room - enlargement.	The Reading Room - enlargement.

---

Two views of the side of the Fisher bookstack:

The fete on 16 September 1916 in aid of the War Chest - enlargement, photo, courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney — find out more.	Edward, Prince of Wales addressing the audience on 23 June 1920 - enlargement — find out more.

---

Views of the Library about 1925:

The Library about 1925 - enlargement.	The Library about 1925 - enlargement. photo, Library website.

---

The Reading Room in the 1950s:

The Reading Room in the 1950s - enlargement.	The Reading Room in the 1950s - enlargement.
The Reading Room in the 1950s - enlargement.	The Reading Room in the 1950s - enlargement.

---

STAGE 2: MACLAURIN HALL 1963 - today

The new Fisher Library and nine-storey book stack were built between 1961 and 1971. When the new Fisher Library opened in 1963, the old library reading room in the Quadrangle was remodelled and named MacLaurin Hall. The original book stacks were replaced by a staircase leading to a new entrance and the area remodelled to accommodate much of the History Department.

Today, MacLaurin Hall is used as a venue for special events, talks and university functions.

View of MacLaurin Hall from Manning Road - enlargement, photo, DPWS Heritage Design Services.	View from inside the Quadrangle - enlargement, photo, copyright David White.
Inside MacLaurin Hall - enlargement.	The Sesquicentenary Colloquium Dinner held in MacLaurin Hall on 12 October 2002 - enlargement, photo, courtesy of ZOOM Productions.
The north wall - enlargement.	The south wall - enlargement.
A pair of sulphur crested cockatoos taking a bite out of MacLaurin Hall in 2003 - view the enlargement and read the news story "A chip off the old block".

---

DECORATIVE FEATURES OF THE BUILDING

These include:

• bosses - carved stone ornaments on horizontal string courses - see below.
• coats of arms - along the south wall are carved shields representing University Visitors and distinguished officers, benefactors and graduates - view images.
• finials - two ornamental carved stone lions on top of both ends of the gable roof each holding the shield from the Royal coat of arms - view images.
• a fleche - an elaborate louvred fleche on the roof constructed of timber and clad with lead - view images.
• gargoyles - many unusual, fantastic, mythical or eerie carved creatures - see one below and view more images.
• grotesques - view images.
• a Juliet balcony - on the western end.
• pinnacles - a number of terminal stone ornaments on the roof and at the top of buttresses - view images.
• tracery - ornamental work of interlaced and branching lines that support plain or stained glass in a Gothic window or are carved on solid walls (blind tracery).

The following photos are courtesy of the University Secretariat:

A crown boss on MacLaurin Hall - enlargement.	A grotesque boss on MacLaurin Hall - enlargement.	A gargoyle on MacLaurin Hall - enlargement.

---

DECORATIVE FEATURES OF THE HALL

— Outside

Decorative features outside MacLaurin Hall include:

• a vaulted ceiling decorated with bosses above the Hall's stained glass entry door leading from the Nicholson Vestibule - both pictured below.
• a bronze plaque commemorating Thomas Fisher outside the entrance to the Hall - pictured below.
• a bronze profile of Sir Normand MacLaurin, made in 1919 by Dora Ohlfsenon, on the wall of the landing outside the newer entrance to the Hall - pictured below.

The following photos are courtesy of the University Secretariat unless otherwise indicated:

The vaulted ceiling decorated with bosses leading to the entrance to the Hall from the Nicholson Vestibule - enlargement.	The entrance door from the Nicholson Vestibule - enlargement.	A plaque commemorating Fisher outside the entrance to the Hall - enlargement
	A plaque commemorating MacLaurin outside the other entrance to the Hall - enlargement.

— Inside

Decorative features inside MacLaurin Hall include:

• on the north wall, a bronze profile of Frederic Norton Manning, the University's first Lecturer in Psychological Medicine, by Edward MacKennal, given to the University in 1905 - pictured below.
• a cedar hammer beam roof - pictured below - with terminals ending with carved lion and tiger heads - pictured below and view more images - which hold the large light pendants in their mouths - pictured below.
• corbels - carved stone animal heads supporting the roof terminals and emblazoned with copper shields of nations whose universities were affiliated with the University in 1909 - pictured below and view more images.
• coats of arms and crests carved in stone on the west and east walls - one pictured below and view more.

The following photos are courtesy of the University Secretariat unless otherwise indicated:

The bronze profile of Frederic Norton Manning - enlargement.	The hammer beam roof, photo, copyright David White - enlargement	Carved lion heads at the ends of the roof terminals.
One of the lights in MacLaurin Hall - enlargement	A corbel in the form of a lion supporting the crest of New Zealand - enlargement.	On the west wall, the coat of arms belonging to Sir William Charles Windeyer - enlargement.

---

LB