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rcopie useu lo say mat uiu -iviemonai nan was naurueo.
It was described as "a costly commemoration to the University dead" and was
considered by many people a "spooky architectural monstrosity."
Old Memorial Hall, which stood on the present site of Memorial Hall, was built in
1887 to fulfill the University's urgent needs for both a large auditorium and a fitting
memorial for its Civil War dead.
From the very beginning, things did not go right for the structure.
Samuel Sloan, an architect from Philadelphia who designed the building,
mysteriously died before it was completed.
Sloan was later remembered by University people as a "strange little man with a
strange mind."
After it was built for a total sum of $40,000, twice the original estimate, the
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building remained practically empty for the first 25 years because it was too large to
use.
To make matters worse, the building was plagued with terrible acoustics and was
constantly needing repair for some reason or another.
Among the few things that could be boasted about the structure was that it had one
of the largest spanned wooden roofs in the world.
In 1930, the building was finally condemned because its heavy roof started to cave
in.
However, the state immediately provided emergency funds for a new stone
building. The Board of Trustees made sure that the original Civil War memorial tablets
were savec! for the present, carefully-planned Memorial Hall.
As for monstrous Old Memorial Hall, after 44 years of erratic service, the
"Westminster Abbey of Chapel Hill" was torn down.
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