Origin

One of the westernmost buildings on the RPI campus, the Carnegie Building now stands as a four story building that is home to the Cognitive Science department. But, originally the building was part of a plan by the university to rebuild and recoup losses from the fire of 1904. The fire entailed the destruction of the Main Building, and RPI had a few options: to rebuild the main building, to expand the campus up the hill in Troy, or move out of Troy. Moving entailed merging with Columbia university, a university whose campus lies in New York City. Even though Columbia university proposed the merger, RPI ultimately decided to stay in Troy and expand the campus uphill.

Construction

As part of this uphill plan, Andrew Carnegie donated $125,000 for the construction of the building, around $3.8 million today. In addition to this, the Walter Phelps Warren estate was acquired as well. The building was completed in 1906. Designed by the architectural firm Whitfield and King, the Carnegie building was constructed out of Harvard brick and Indiana Limestone, like many of the buildings on campus at the time. In addition to this, concrete and steel were used for the structure. The building was designed to be fireproofed, with terrazzo floors and white tiled walls.

Purpose

The first floor contained four large recitation rooms, and the second floor was used by the department of Mechanics and Mathematics. On the third floor was a small drawing room and various classrooms. The fourth floor consisted of a large drawing room, as well as a side room for blue-printing.

Today, various classes from departments are held in the Carnegie building. The first floor as well as the fourth floor are no longer utilized, and have fallen to disrepair, although it is unclear why this happened. Recently, JMZ Architects completed an extensive renovation of multiple classrooms on the second floor (entrance level), and combined them, turning the space into a large lecture room. Designed to be flexible, the room can now accommodate 80 students, with furniture that can be rearranged.