John's post talks about the ongoing restoration of the Berkshire Athaneum, and how it was designed by an architect named William A. Potter (no relation to my partner), who also designed an auditorium named Alexander Hall at Princeton. It looks like a close cousin of the Athaneum based on the photo in John's post.
Well, when I was an undergrad, and I'm told the rumor still makes the rounds today, the story was that a student had submitted the design of Alexander Hall as his senior thesis in Architecture, and that he had been failed and flunked out. The story went on that he had gone on to become a wealthy something or other and then gave the University a pot of money on the condition that it be used to build an auditorium according to the donor's specs. The donor hired an architect to act as the "front" and the building was built according to his F-grade senior thesis, and only when it was done did he reveal the true provenance of the design. Not true but it fueled a few late night bull sessions.
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