Museum Exhibits at William H. Hollis Exhibition & Seminar Room

FLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE

The early years of campus construction relied on student labor – much of it female labor once WW2 drew a large proportion of male students overseas. This young and strong labor was tasked with assembling complicated designs using simple materials. Consider the brickwork.

There were more than 20 basic brick designs, yet that is not very many when you consider the number of buildings constructed. The bricks were made from concrete, using natural materials found in and around Lakeland.

Concrete requires only a few basic raw materials. Sand is everywhere in Florida, and you don’t have to own a shovel to find it. Water is abundant – Lakeland, after all, is known for its water. The third ingredient, limestone, is the substructure under the campus. Add some crushed seashells (instead of pebbles) and you have an all-natural building block that didn’t have to be quarried or trucked into the campus.

Students would mix the concrete, pour the molds, and set them out in the hot Florida sun to bake for a couple weeks. They would be assembled with the assistance of metal reinforcing bars and provide sturdy cover for decades to come.

During later rehabilitation of the campus, the same methods would be employed to replicate the original bricks.

For a photo of Wright’s “color study” for the bricks, see this page showing the Charles W. Hawkins Seminar Building.