Burton Hall: The University's First Library - Overview
"Entering the University of Minnesota campus from the north through the Pillsbury Gate, a visitor first catches a glimpse of Burton Hall through openings in the trees. Its temple-like front brings to mind distant monuments of ancient Greece, connecting the modern visitor to the intellectual world of Socrates, Plato and the ancient academies of learning. Is this association with the classical past a coincidence? and does this architectural reference still have meaning a century later? Part of the answer lies in the story of how this building came to be built."