Tony Denzer, Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering: When I arrived at the UW campus in Laramie 10 years ago, I was immediately struck by the picturesque beauty of Prexy’s Pasture and the ensemble of buildings surrounding this open area in the center of the University of Wyoming (UW) campus. What a wonderful harmony between architecture and landscape we enjoy! Yet I must confess that no individual building impressed me as truly excellent in and of itself.
And then I explored further and encountered Hoyt Hall. Hoyt grabbed me instantly, and all these years later I still believe it is the most interesting building on campus. I go out of my way to walk by it almost every day. Hoyt was built as a women’s dormitory between 1916 and 1922; the architect was William Dubois of Cheyenne. It was named to honor Dr. John W. Hoyt, UW’s founding president.
Why do I love it? Hoyt Hall is simply a beautiful architectural composition. Dubois designed the façade with a wonderfully complex and balanced rhythm. The vertical divisions and subdivisions are endlessly fascinating to study, in the same way English majors might analyze a poem by Keats (see diagram).
The symmetry of the exterior of Hoyt Hall resembles rhyming patterns of a poem.
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