By the late 1870s, Harvard Law School’s first purpose-built structure, Dane Hall — constructed for the law school in 1832 in Harvard Yard—was becoming too small to house its rapidly growing student body. In 1879, Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell LL.B. 1854 remarked that Dane Hall’s library space had become so crowded that “when more than two [professors] are present at the same time, some of them must content themselves with standing room.” 

Dane Hall’s replacement, Austin Hall, commissioned by Langdell, was designed by the influential architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886) and constructed in 1883.

The building was a gift from Edward Austin, a Boston textile merchant with no formal connection to the law school, who requested that the building be named after his late brother, Samuel Austin.

With its three sweeping arches, polychromatic stone, and whimsical carvings, Austin Hall is considered a masterpiece of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, a style that Richardson popularized in America. A trip to the Auvergne region of France inspired Richardson’s southern Romanesque building design.  He had previously designed Harvard University’s Sever Hall (1880) and Boston’s Trinity Church (1877). 

Austin Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

panoramic view of Austin Hall and surrounding landscape c. 1910
Austin Hall (left) circa 1910. Credit: Haines Photo Co./Library of Congress
Austin Hall with a three arches and red brick and beige stone details
Austin Hall today. Credit: Bob O’Connor 2011

Austin Hall’s interior and exterior details include vivid carved faces with ruggedly sketched features and stone carvings of fantastical birds and beasts. English modeler and carver John Evans (1847-1923), carefully chosen by Richardson, executed the structure’s French-inspired ornamental details. 

One of the stone carved faces from the Austin Hall exterior with a touch of snow on his head
A detail shot of the carvings on the top of the columns at at the front of a law school building
A carved stone detail on a building
(Left to right) A detail of one of the carved faces on an exterior column; a column showcasing carvings; one of the fantastical birds and beasts on the building’s exterior; and interior column carvings

The floral design on the exterior of Austin Hall inspired the design of Harvard Law School’s current shield.

A drawing of flower detail on for a building
A stonework detail on a building
Two red banners on a pole, one with the words Harvard Law School, the other with a shield.
(From left) The floral design on Austin Hall’s exterior as first sketched and today; (Right) Banners feature the Harvard Law School shield inspired by Austin’s floral design.

To the left of the three arches that frame Austin Hall’s main entrance is a rectangular plaque carved with Richardson’s initials intertwined with carvings of an architect’s draughting tools.

details of stone carvings on the front of a building
Close up of the triple arches of Austin Hall
(Left) A detail of the rectangular plaque on the buildings exterior with H.H. Richardson’s monogram with tools of the architect; (Right) The plaque is located left of the archways.

Austin Hall opened for classes in October 1883.

It remained the sole law school building until 1907 when the south wing of Langdell Hall was completed.  

The first floor of Austin Hall contains three large amphitheater-style classrooms designed for teaching using Socratic instruction and the case method—the pedagogy where students study actual cases to deduce the principles of the law—created by Christopher Langdell, the school’s dean from 1870 to 1895.

James Barr Ames LL.B. 1872, who succeeded Langdell and served as dean from 1895 to 1910, was among the professors on the Harvard Law School faculty when Austin Hall opened for use. Ames is widely regarded as the scholar who perfected the case method of instruction.

An architectural floor plan of Austin Hall by H.H. Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson’s original plan for Austin Hall  published in 1885, shows floor plans for the first and second floors. Credit: Harvard Law School Historical & Special Collections
a black and white photo of a classroom with individual wooden desks in a semi-circular pattern
A wide view of a classroom with a podium in front of a blackboard and rows of desks and chairs
A professor stands at a podium before a large classroom of law students. A sound boom reaches across the scene.
An early photo of an Austin Hall classroom built for the case method and Socratic instruction; Austin Hall’s large lecture hall today; An Austin Hall classroom was reconstructed on a sound stage for a scene in the 1973 filming of “The Paper Chase”.

While the building is mostly symmetrical, there is an asymmetrical turret to the east of the front entrance which houses a spiral staircase up to the second floor where the library reading room, a stack area, the librarian’s office, and the dean’s office were located when the building opened. At that time one could go from the Reading Room to the stacks on the floor above via a metal staircase. Professors’ desks were located near the bookshelves.

In the early 1900s, the first electric lights dimly illuminated pages of law books in the Reading Room. By the 1940s brighter lights hung from the ceiling.

An early interior photograph of Austin Hall Reading Room
Historical photo of men sitting at tables in Austin Hall library studying under table gas lights
Paper covered desks near rows of book shelves
Students studying in Austin Hall Reading Room
(Left to right) An early photo of the Austin Hall Reading Room; electric lights dimly illuminate books in this reprint of a 19th century image; Dean Ames’ desk is near the stacks in the foreground; the Reading Room in the 1940s features brighter lights from the ceiling.

To accommodate the school’s growing collection of books, Langdell Hall was built in 1907, but Austin Hall library remained in operation until 1954, when both libraries were consolidated in Langdell, where they remain today.

Shortly thereafter, the Austin Hall Reading Room was remodeled and renamed the James Barr Ames Courtroom, to commemorate the former dean. The move required major surgery on the building since the judges’ bench and jury box were to be a dramatic niche cut into the south wall of the room.

The Ames Courtroom is noted for its ornamented ceiling tie beams carved with the heads of dragons and boars original to the building. It is the location of the annual Ames Moot Court Competition, the most prestigious contest for appellate brief writing and advocacy in the country.

Painters atop ceiling tie beams, Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall
A courtroom with students sitting behind table and facing judges on a panel
The interior of a large room with rows of chairs and a fireplace in the rear
Views of a few of the changes in the Ames Courtroom over the years. (From left) Painters work on the beams of the Ames Courtroom in 1964; students argue in front of judges in 1973 during the Ames Moot Court Final Round; a 1983 renovation of the courtroom.
A view of room from the back with a judges bench in at the front.
The Ames Hall Reading Room became the James Barr Ames Courtroom in 1954. Pictured here as it looks today. Credit: Credit: Lorin Granger

Another notable feature of the Ames Courtroom is a large fireplace with intricate stone carvings, which once blazed as students studied. On the slab above the fireplace is a Latin inscription in honor of Samuel Austin, the brother of the building’s benefactor.

A black and white photo of a brick fireplace with carvings along the side
A pencil sketch of a andiron
An overview shot of a large room with lots of large windows and rows of chairs. A brick fireplace with stone carvings sits in the background.
An ornamented fireplace is located in the back of the Ames Courtroom. The andiron sketch shown here held the logs. The fireplace remains a part of the courtroom today.

“I like the squeaking floors, the groaning of floorboards underfoot. They conspire to suggest the passage of many feet before. Austin with its vast lecture rooms, its rabbit warrens above, and odd-shaped burrows below, is always reminding one that to be a Harvard Law student is not a new thing.”

Sabin Willett ’83, from “Austin Hall After a Century,” Harvard Law School Library, 1983
View of a hallway of a building with brick archways and gas lighting on the left a classroom door is opened and desks are visible.
A student walks down the first floor hallway beneath the brick interior archways of a building
An photograph from the gaslight era, taken in the hallway facing eastward; a view of the main hallway today.

Over its 140-year history, Austin Hall has undergone multiple renovations—from an exterior cleaning that brightened its sandstone exterior to renovations of the Ames Courtroom and office spaces, to outfitting the building with state-of-the-art technologies and climate control. Overall, though, the building has retained much of its historic appearance.

Several hundred men gather on the steps of Austin Hall for a photo a violinist is playing
A group photo of students in rows in front of Austin Hall
Group of students posing on the steps in front of a building
The steps of Austin Hall have been the site of many group photos over the years. (From left) Students, circa 1902, gather as a violinist at the far right serenades; a 1895 class photo; a 2019 photo during orientation.
Detail of the top of Austin Hall in the evening.
Just below the roofline of the building is an inscription that reads “And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk and the work that they must do.” Exodus 18: 20. Credit: Brooks Kraft 2016

Then & Now: Austin Hall was compiled by Linda Grant, Harvard Law School Communications Office. Special thanks to Mik Hamilton, digital archive assistant, Harvard Law School Communications Office, and Lesley Schoenfeld, public services & visual collections administrator, Historical & Special Collections for research and editorial assistance.