Bixby Gallery

Arguably the most dramatic of the interior changes, Bixby Gallery was transformed into a large studio space that is extensively used by the school today. Bixby Gallery was once the heart of Bixby Hall, when it used to host art exhibits, end-of-year celebrations, student dances, and other events of the sort. As seen in the images, the room is lined with the busts of classical figures, and it’s in this room that student's college experience began. Professors would bring beginning students to this room and would have them draw the figures. "When a student was deemed proficient enough," Professor Pike says, they would graduate and be allowed to "join the painters upstairs." These figures would then be relocated for the regular student dances held at the gallery.    

Its walls, as explained by the note, were once the interior of the British Pavilion. When the original British Pavilion was demolished, these walls were disassembled and installed into Bixby Hall, as a way of preserving the rich history of the British Pavilion without having to reconstruct the building.

In 2003, the renovations began. Professor Pike was the Dean during this period of time, and he recalls this entire operation inspired much worry in all those in involved. The construction team and faculty were fearful that the wooden walls would force them off the schedule agreed upon with WashU. But when it came time to pulling them apart, the panels very easily "popped off the walls." They found a stamp of the name of the manufacturer and their location in London. Professor Pike speculates the whole room was designed and made in London, disassembled, shipped to the U.S. Professor Pike says they mostly likely came up the Mississippi river and assembled once again on-site.

The construction team continued with their renovations, finding more and more problems and fire hazards along the way. Throughout, Professor Pike would come in the evenings and "rescue" any intact ornaments. He would offer them to donors for as low as $100 ("a brisk business!").  

The Nancy Spirtas Kranzberg Studio for the Illustrated Book was established in its stead. The room is large enough to conduct multiple classes simultaneously. Different stations cater to different printmaking processes. The other side of the hallway looks much of the same, housing the Dubinsky Printmaking studio. Both shops are extensively used by the university both to host classes and monthly Fox Friday sessions open to the WashU community. While these two rooms may not host public events like they used to, they still serve as a congregational place allowing for the creation and exchange of art.