The View From the Top of the Mudd Building, 1983 and a Mystery Solved (Probably) Now With Update!

Mudd rooftop 1 1983There was a second contact sheet in the folder that holds yesterday’s pictures of the dedication of the Mudd Building. This one is full of images taken from the top of the building, either on or near that scaffolding that I noted in the first photo. It’s amazing how open the campus still was.

Someone asked in the comments where the J. Sayles Leach Court is located–it’s in between the tall arches and the short ones:

Mudd rooftop 5

This is an unusual view of the side of the library, again with so much open space:

Mudd rooftop 3

And here’s a really rare sight–if there’s another photo in existence of the back of the Chemistry Building, I’ve never seen it:

Mudd rooftop 2

Bonus: Yesterday’s photo with the scaffolding made a little bell go off for me. Remember the exciting post about the view from the top of the Bonner Lab? The burning question under discussion was when those pictures were taken. I went back last night and looked and sure enough, if you zoom in on this image

Rooftop

you’ll see scaffolding on the top of the Mudd Building. Cool, huh?

Update: Astute commenter Bailey writes: Are you sure that those pictures weren’t taken from the top of Hermann Brown? Mudd is further set back than these pictures appear relative to the surrounding buildings. In particular, in the first picture, the Space Science building is over on the far right and Keith-Weiss is in line with the building from which the photo is taken. Mudd is along the same path as Space Science. All the other pictures seem similarly situated.

I think she’s right.

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6 Responses to The View From the Top of the Mudd Building, 1983 and a Mystery Solved (Probably) Now With Update!

  1. Bailey says:

    Are you sure that those pictures weren’t taken from the top of Hermann Brown? Mudd is further set back than these pictures appear relative to the surrounding buildings. In particular, in the first picture, the Space Science building is over on the far right and Keith-Weiss is in line with the building from which the photo is taken. Mudd is along the same path as Space Science. All the other pictures seem similarly situated.

    • Melissa Kean says:

      You know what? I think you’re right. And we’ve already seen a shot of Mudd taken from Hermann Brown so we know the photographer was up there. I’m actually going to post an update.

      Thanks, Bailey!

  2. James Medford says:

    What’s interesting about the photo of the back of the Chemistry building is that you can see what it looked like before the rear of the building was modified when the chemistry department moved out and it became Keck Hall.

  3. Ed Harris says:

    Another bonus of the photo of the side of the library is the view of the Texas Medical Center in the background… a skyline that has changed at least as much through the years as the Rice campus!

  4. Deborah Gronke Bennett (BSEE Hanszen '82) says:

    These photos show the Rice campus that I remember. During the time I was an undergrad (1976-1982) no new buildings were built. If you walked down the sidewalk from Hanszen, past Wiess and to the street, you could see (behind the library) all the way to Hamman Hall.

  5. Pingback: The Back of the Chemistry Building | Rice History Corner

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