Rice Memorial Center Andirons

It has been rather cold and dreary in Houston lately and somewhat difficult to take photos outside. I thought I would show this lovely pair of andirons that is in the fireplace in Kelley Lounge in the Rice Memorial Center. I don't know much of the history behind these, but imagine it would not have been too difficult to find a set of these already in existence, but perhaps they were custom-made for the fireplace.

Keck Hall Fountains

These owls, like many around campus, are tucked out of the way. These are a pair of owls at the south entrances to Keck Hall, formerly Dell Butcher, formerly the Chemistry Building. They appear to be old water fountains but I could not find any original photos of these in the Woodson Research Center. There are so many lovely details on this building I imagine these fountains were not considered photo-worthy. You should definitely take a look at them now. I believe these owls were added during the recent renovation of this building, which won a Good Brick Award from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance.

Humanities Building Weathervane

This one was hard for me to capture and can be hard to see so be sure to look upwards for this one also. It is so thin it gets lost at various side angles. This is on the Humanities Building at the top of the Pitman Tower. I like this one because of its resemblance to folk art weathervanes. It also reminds me of Halloween clip art, rather like a Jack-O-Lantern stencil. I'm not sure of the reason for the design of this one but it is very whimsical and rather unique among the Rice owls.

Herzstein Hall (Physics Building) Lobby

I brought my camera to campus and captured a few images. I also dug out James C. Morehead, Jr.'s excellent book A Walking Tour of Rice University. Though this book could use some updating it is a wealth of information and will keep me from having to research a few items. This is one of four owl finials in the lobby of Herzstein Hall, which I will probably refer to as the Physics Building in other posts. You can see a good image of the owl on page 25 of the Morehead book (the 2nd revised edition, which I believe is available in the Campus Bookstore). Morehead also relates a story of how these were stolen in 1983, seemingly as part of a prank and later uncovered after a professor solved a riddle. You should hunt down the book and find the full details. These are original to the building and are one of my favorite interior details on campus.

Fondren Library Owls on Exterior

We'll start off with the owls that grace the exterior of Fondren Library. These are on the "front" of the library, or the east entrance facing Lovett Hall. These are perhaps the most underrated owls on campus. They should be quite noticeable as they are quite large, but they are probably overlooked because they are fairly high up. Next time you are walking across the quad cast your eyes up and notice the proud pair of Fondren owls. This photo can be found as part of the Rice Image Library.

Visual Tour Of Owls around the Rice University Campus

Hi all,

I'm creating this blog for an assignment here at Fondren Library. I tossed around ideas and landed on something I've wished existed for a while: a register of the depictions of owls around the campus. This will mostly be owls that are on the buildings but I'll include sculpture in the buildings and other decorative details. I'm not sure a blog is the best place for this, and I doubt I will keep up with locating and photographing owls around campus but I'll give it a shot and maybe it will inspire others to do some more searching. Look for my first visual post next but those interested might want to take a look at the April/May 1992 issue of the Rice University publication Sallyport. Pages 24-25 contains a quiz with 12 owls to see if you can name the buildings they are on.