Limited Edition Images by Leslie E. Thompson

Plans for Langdon Hall were drawn up by W. P. Wood, an alumnus of the class of 1881. The Roman Tuscan architectural design as seen today, differs from the original appearance which included a tower at the entrance area. The building was designed to serve as a new student auditorium. The Wood-Work Department was established in 1885 and located in one half of the basement; the Machines Department was in the other half until 1887, when the annex to Langdon was completed to accommodate this department. When Samford Hall burned in 1887, temporary classes were held in Langdon Hall.

This building was named for Colonel Charles Carter Langdon, a Mobile mayor, one-time Alabama Secretary of State, and a trustee of the Agriculture and Mechanical College. The auditorium was first lighted in 1888 when a light plant was installed in the basement. In 1892, Langdon was used as an auditorium and the ground floor held the engineering departments, which were among the first in the South.

After 1921, when Auburn's first electric dynamo and light plant were moved out of the ground floor area of Langdon Hall, the Home Economics Department used the space for classrooms until September of 1924 when it was taken over by the Y. M. C. A. In 1933 the basement was remodeled as a student activity hall. The Y. M. C. A. assembly hall in Langdon Hall had been used longer as a classroom than any other building on campus. Annual meetings of the alumni association were held inside its portrait-lined walls, as well as afternoon rehearsals of the Auburn Band. Under the wide concrete steps there is a little cubby-hole which used to house the campus photographers. A student center in the basement was remodeled in September of 1936, and again in 1952. The main auditorium was remodeled in 1950 and acquired new curtains, new seats, light fixtures, asphalt tile floor, with newly painted walls. Langdon has since undergone more recent renovations.

*Special Collections & Archives, Auburn University Libraries