Bancroft Hall. Edit source History Talk 0. Bancroft Hall is located on the far right, the largest building on the campus Bancroft Hall at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, is the largest single dormitory in the world. The Baltimore Sun. May 16, Retrieved May 1, Naval Academy". United States Naval Academy. Fort Severn. Alumni Superintendents Commandants.
Cancel Save. Universal Conquest Wiki. Bancroft Hall was designed by Beaux-Arts architect, Ernest Flagg, and its central rotunda and first two wings were built in — Over the intervening years it has been expanded to encompass eight wings of five stories, each numbered Want to visit this sight?
The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad. Walking Tours in Annapolis, Maryland. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. Yet they will discover that its structural integrity has been improved and that its dignity and decorum have been restored.
Like Smoke Hall and the Rotunda, Memorial Hall's limestone has been cleaned and re-pointed, its ceiling has undergone extensive plaster repair and it has been repainted. Its historic light fixtures have also been restored and brought up to code.
The light fixtures and new skylights give added notice to the room's murals, which appear brilliant after careful cleaning as does its wooden floor. The space's more subtle changes are also noteworthy. Memorial Hall has been upgraded to comply with fire and safety codes and standards. Furthermore speakers, designed to match their surroundings, provide higher quality acoustics. While contractors improved Memorial Hall's structural integrity, others restored its dignity and decorum.
Comprised of graduates from the '30s through the '80s, the committee identified three categories for memorialization: Service, Sacrifice, and Valor. It was determined that Memorial Hall, as its name indicates, should solely memorialize Naval Academy alumni. As a result, only the categories of Sacrifice and Valor will be represented there in the future.
Those recognized for Service will continue to be honored on The Yard in locations such as Alumni Hall. Valor is exemplified in Memorial Hall by a plaque bearing the names of those awarded Medals of Honor. Nearby, the Killed in Action scroll is a sobering, powerful example of Sacrifice. This scroll, however, does not convey the full breadth of sacrifices made by Naval Academy graduates for their country. Non-hostile "Line of Duty" Operational Losses are equally worthy of memorialization.
For this reason, an Operational Losses panel is being erected in Memorial Hall. The panel will contain the crest of each Class, followed by the Class's Operational Losses. It will bear approximately 3, names, each individual's rank and service, and has been designed to allow for about one century of expansion.
While an Operational Losses panel has been added to Memorial Hall, other items have been removed. It categorized each as representing Sacrifice, Service, or Valor. Based on the current clause, the full committee then decided which items should remain, be removed from, or relocated to Memorial Hall. Those that remain, yet do not fall into the categories of Sacrifice or Valor were "grandfathered" in because of their antiquity and beauty.
Private funding has enabled the restoration of Memorial Hall's dignity and decorum, specifically the Classes of , , and The Class of '54 supported the refinishing of Memorial Hall's plaques, flags, and paintings.
The original Battle of Lake Erie Flag, for instance, is currently being preserved in New York and will most likely be displayed in Preble Hall upon return.
Those who graduated in '54 also enabled the development and production of the Operational Losses panels. Members of the Class of sponsored and supported the Special Memorials Committee. They also made possible the Rotunda level's computer kiosk, which will provide further information about those memorialized by the Operational Losses panels.
Furthermore, '86 graduates supported a video for Memorial Hall's visitors. In addition to providing a brief history of the space, the video will inform visitors of the proper protocol to be observed there.
Lastly, the Class of made possible the Current Operational Losses panel, which will be replaced and updated annually. In the future, the only functions to take place in Memorial Hall will be those that meet the standards of decorum for the space, which Colonel Ripley rightly refers to as the Naval Academy's "Sistine Chapel.
One feature, however, still appears quite differently than it originally did: the stairs leading from the Rotunda level to Smoke and Memorial Halls. After being thoroughly cleaned, they still bear the indentations made by all who have entered Bancroft Hall since its completion, nearly one century ago.
Ginger Doyel is a fourth generation Annapolitan. History, particularly naval history, has always been of great interest to her. Her grandfathers, father, and uncle are Naval Academy graduates representing the Classes of , , , and After receiving a degree in leadership studies from the University of Richmond '01 she lived in Charlottesville, VA. While there she served as a research fellow for the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, illustrated and published a children's book, and began a successful golf art business.
I was eighteen the first time I entered her halls. I was struggling between being a teenager and becoming an adult. I had recently graduated from high school, and was in my first semester of college. Many life lessons started that evening, lessons I had not begun to realize.
Men who would have a profound effect on me, change who I was, walked the corridors of Bancroft Hall in October of ; I had not yet met them. He was my first real boyfriend, a 3rd class midshipman in 7th company from outside of Buffalo, New York.
I loved the way he spoke; the pronunciations of certain words, beer, car, park, etc. For a silly year-old girl, his accent, his uniform, everything about him seemed so mature. I loved having a boyfriend and I wanted to keep him around for a while so I worked hard trying to impress him, let him know I liked him.
My afternoon class was was canceled so I decided with my added free time I would make chocolate chip cookies and surprise my mid. With my baking complete, I bagged the cookies and headed to the Academy. I had never surprised anyone before, and wondered as I parked my car if this was such a brilliant idea. Brushing aside my anxiety, I headed across the yard. I climbed the imposing steps to the entrance of Bancroft Hall.
I marveled at the massive size of the foyer, the towering dome, and arches that adorned the ceiling. In front of me stood numerous flags, beyond them lay another massive staircase leading to a larger door with some type of strange seal of armor above it.
Turning in a small circle I was in awe at the visual magnificence that surrounded me. At the window I informed the midshipmen on duty the company and name of whom I wished to visit. He called his company and relayed the message he had a visitor.
I was directed down the hall to the visitor's lounge and told my boyfriend would be there shortly. The lounge was crowded with midshipmen and their girlfriends. Trying not to stare at the various scenes playing out in front of me, I stood awkwardly in the corner and waited. Within a few minutes my boyfriend entered the room. Noticing how uncomfortable I was he invited me for a walk. Happily I agreed. We exited the lounge and headed toward the entrance.
Instead of turning right to go out the doors, he paused, then told me to follow him. We headed up the staircase I had been confronted by earlier. Ascending the steps I ran my hand along the wide banister. The room that stood above us commanded my attention. The breadth and prominence of the entrance overpowered every other feature in the building.
I couldn't explain why but it took my breath away with it's overpowering silence. On the landing outside the entrance, my boyfriend laid the bag of cookies by the wall. He brushed and straightened his uniform. He checked his posture and seemed to grow an inch or two taller before me. My confused look at his uniform checks told him I had never been inside the hall. He asked if I knew the significance of the Memorial Hall, I shook my head. He explained as a plebe he had to wait for the upper classmen to disclose all the hall represented.
What it meant to the midshipmen and alumni of the Academy. Every midshipman had to earn the right to enter her chambers. To him Memorial Hall needed no further explanation. If one listened; her walls, her chambers spoke for themselves. In time they would disclose their meaning to all who sought it. The large hall at the top of the stairs, located across from the entrance to Bancroft Hall is not just any room, she is like no other.
Memorial Hall sits at the heart of Mother B; the nickname affectionately given Bancroft Hall by the midshipmen. Memorial Hall is the quintessence of the Academy. Everything the Academy represents, the values it teaches are all embodied within her walls. She holds the lessons of the past that will lead midshipmen forward; teach them to become better men and women, outstanding leaders.
From the moment I stepped within her walls I was overwhelmed. The massive hall was quiet, peaceful. The sounds of my shoes hitting her floors echoed through her towering architecture. A solemn silence resonated through the air.
0コメント