The castle-like building at the corner of Langdon and Park Streets is a campus icon, and the legends that surround it cement its place in campus lore. When it was built, its designers demanded that the building be completely fireproof — its predecessor, Old Science Hall, had burned down. It was, therefore, one of the first buildings in America made with significant amounts of structural steel, paving the way for later skyscrapers. The steel, however, led to significant cost overruns. With a final price tag of $285,000, Science Hall was 50 percent over budget, making it the most expensive state building to date and leading to a legislative investigation. Frank Lloyd Wright (attended 1886–87) claimed to have designed windows for Science Hall, though his designs were rejected. Later, it housed the UW’s medical school, and cadavers were stored in the building’s attic. The anatomy classes moved out in 1957, but later residents continued to find discarded body parts into the 1970s. In spite of the fireproof construction, Science Hall also had a fire escape that was unique on campus — a slide on the building’s exterior. Riding it from top to bottom was a favorite, if illicit, student activity until the fire slide was removed in the 1980s.

Badger Pride Wall art is by Nate Koehler