Fletcher Hall was built in 1939, late in the Great Depression that followed the Stock Market crash of 1929. Its construction was supported primarily with federal funds to address the campus housing shortage and to provide work when unemployment was an ongoing problem. University Architect Rudolph Weaver designed the building in harmony with the adjacent original buildings Buckman and Thomas and to Sledd Hall, which it continued to the North. Weaver's design also reflected an increase in Collegiate Gothic details. A dominant tower entrance facing University Avenue incorporated an oriel window. Plaques with seals of many of the world's great universities continued a theme developed in Sledd Hall. A reading room is enhanced with Collegiate Gothic features in its mantel piece and paneling, as well as relief sculptures defining its bay window onto the dormitory courtyard. First caledl North Hall, the building was named for U.S. Senator Duncan U. Fletcher, a supporter of the University of Florida.
3-1/2 stories
Series of rectangular bars connecting to other buildings that define exterior court and entrance court
Gable
Shed dormers
Cross gable bays
Individual entrances facing courtyard
Classical pediments above doorways
6 over 6 lights
Double Hung, paired
Brick is English Cross Bond
Clay roof tiles, light red flat tile
Plaques in balcony at tope of angled bays, decorative seals
Cast stone lintels, sills
Water table half round with bulging torus
Reading Room
Several wings define a rectangular courtyard with other buildings
The proportion of clear space in the courtyards between the buildings is at least twice the ground to parapet height
Pedestrian passages through the building mass on ground floor
Architect: Rudolph Weaver
Contractor: Chalker & Lund Co.
Building Name: Duncan U. Fletcher, U.S. Senator from Florida, 1908-1936
