The Steinheim

1876

What began as the private residence of Professor Ida Kenyon, who wanted to reproduce the architecture of a castle in her native Germany, is now the home of the Robert R. McComsey Career Development Center at the Allen Steinheim Museum. Professor Kenyon started construction on the building in 1875, using stones collected from the area. She ran out of money before her castle was completed, and it was purchased by Jonathan Allen, the University's second president, who completed it for use as a natural history museum and classroom. After 75 years' use and inadequate maintenance, the building was in disrepair and closed in 1953. A decade later, basic repairs were made, allowing the building to be used for nearly 30 more years before it again closed, this time for a major renovation that transformed it into the Career Development Center. The renovation project won an architectural award for its careful blending of the old with the new. The walls of the building are a geological museum in themselves, made of more than 8,000 kinds of rock, all collected from within three miles of campus. The interior of the building is finished primarily in native wood from local forests. More than 800 kinds of wood can be found in the Steinheim.