Campus of Lafayette College

The main campus borders the downtown area of Easton to the south, the College Hill Residential Historic District to the north east, and is situated almost directly on the Delaware River.

[14] It was the first of many buildings to be named after philanthropist Fred Morgan Kirby after he made a donation of 1,000 shares of stock in the F. W. Woolworth Company, of which he was co-founder and vice-president.

By 1930, in an effort to grow the department, he donated an additional $590,000 (equivalent to $8,568,000 in 2023 dollars)[17] to fund the construction of the Hall of Civil Rights.

[4] The exterior of the building was built out of Indiana limestone and Woodbury granite, while the interior was decorated in travertine imported from Italy.

Around the four walls of the exterior of the building the following inscriptions were carved in the stone: The front reads a line from the Gospel of Matthew, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?"

[22][23] It's also purported to be the first college building of its time expressly made for the study of government and law,[24] with press lauding it as a "practical step forward".

The building was dedicated in 1969 to Dr. Beverly W. Kunkel who had led the school's biology program for 37 years and in that time tutored two Nobel Prize winners; Philip Showalter Hench, and Haldan Keffer Hartline.

[26] The Oechsle Center for Global Education was built in 2014 and houses the college's departments of international affairs, Africana studies, anthropology, and sociology.

[36] By 1971, a new field house was under construction to host the college's basketball team, and renovations were undertaken to transform the gymnasium into a hall for concerts and lectures.

[37] In 1998, Walter (class of 1957) and Christa Oechsle donated $12 million to the college endowment, with funds meant to re-purpose the building to house programs in psychology and neuroscience.

It was designed by John McArthur Jr. in the Second Empire architecture style,[41][42] and since its initial completion has been renovated three times – twice due to fire, and once after the second World War for modernization.

[4] The initial construction of the building began after a $200,000 donation (equivalent to $4,537,000 in 2023 dollars)[17] from Ario Pardee in 1871 during the administration of president William Cassady Cattell, who had begun a large fund raising campaign to save the college from financial ruin.

Hot equipment not properly cooled in the chemistry lab on the top floor were to blame for the start of the fire, and late notice, combined with an unorganized firefighting patrol, led to the almost complete gutting of the building before the flames were extinguished.

At the cost of $130,000, Pardee Hall was rededicated on November 30, 1880, in view of an impressive assortment of individuals including General William Tecumseh Sherman, Secretary of War Alexander Ramsey, and President Rutherford B. Hayes.

He escaped to New York after watching the building light up in flame from the New Jersey border, but returned to Easton at the start of the new year to continue acts of vandalism on the campus.

While iron railings around the perimeter of the roof were removed for the war efforts in WWII, the interior of building was updated to fit the demands of the college.

The building was completely gutted, with every former item moved to a new location, including the Tiffany stained glass window which was later restored and displayed in the renovated Skillman Library.

It is named after former United States Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon, class of 1952, who donated $3 million in 1984 to re-purpose the existing structure, Jenks Hall.

This addition was expanded significantly in 1939 to double the size of the shelving in order to fit a quickly growing collection of books.

[71] The 18,000 square foot building contains a black box theater, 180-seat cinema, classrooms, and other various rooms for the college's art programs.

It also hosts a travelling exhibition featuring various local artists, or prominent topics from the school's history, such as the college's Tiffany glass collection.

The building was originally the home of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and was built in 1908 in the Georgian Revival style,[39][86] though their removal from campus in 1993 left the house empty for a number of years.

It is a 37,800 square foot residence hall built in the Georgian style which contains multiple "special-interest housing" blocs for students.

Built with $22,000 donated by the city of Easton, the new wing was named Eastonian Hall and contained a two-story tall room which was quickly used to house the college's growing collecting of books.

In 1961, the entire center edifice was razed and rebuilt in order to make room for more student housing, a book store, and post office.

[100] In 1956 a wing was added to the north side of the building to hold additional student dorms, classrooms, and a dining facility.

Since the exterior of the chapel was structurally sound, the only costs incurred the renovation of the interior, although the two Tiffany glass windows were destroyed beyond repair.

Hogg Hall is home to the college's career services, religious & spiritual life offices, an interfaith chapel, and the campus radio station, WJRH.

[117] A $2 million campaign was launched to raise money for the new library, which was subsequently named after David B. Skillman, the college's first librarian and biographer.

[69] In 2004, the library underwent a $22 million renovation which overhauled the entire interior and exterior and added over 28,000 square feet of space.