Caltech Hall Towers Above Campus

When trustee and cancer researcher Seeley G. Mudd proposed funding the construction of a library on campus, he made it a condition that he select both the architect and the style of the building. While some questioned the wisdom of erecting a nine-story tower in the middle of a campus dominated by low-profile Spanish-themed architecture, Mudd and others argued successfully that a tall tower would take up less valuable green space.

Completed in 1967, the building was named Caltech Hall in 2021. It was previously known as the Robert A. Millikan Memorial Library, named after Robert Andrews Millikan, director of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics and chair of the Executive Council of the Institute from 1921 to 1945.

Caltech's Board of Trustees authorized the renaming following a unanimous recommendation by a committee charged to study Millikan and his affiliation with the eugenics movement.

Designed by L.A. architectural firm Flewelling and Moody, and faced with black granite and white cement panels, Caltech Hall was designed to withstand a magnitude 8.0 earthquake.