Administration
Building Riding
Hall
Passing once more under the arch, we admire again for a moment the graceful Herculean proportions of the Administration Building whose imposing square tower, tipped with four smaller towers at the corners, rises precipitately one hundred and sixty feet. It is an interesting fact in these days of steel construction that this tower is built of solid masonry. At the southeast angle of the building, on a level with the base of the main floor, is an enormous eagle carved in granite, its head high, its wings outstretched and flattened back proudly against the two sides of the edifice, as if proclaiming to the world its mission of protection over the Academy whose administrative heart is enclosed in this structure. As we ascend the stairway, alongside the basement at the left, we pass a large Gothic window which affords light to a vaulted hall used for courts-martial. The interior of this hall is in keeping with the mediæval donjon appearance of the whole building, and of such a chill and forbidding aspect as to inspire in the accused a feeling of guilt, nolens volens. The flight of stairs mounts to the level of the Post proper where an eastern view of the building is disclosed. A large sally-port leads into the court around which the building is constructed.
The exterior walls are ornamented with shields representing the coats-of-arms of various states, territories, and foreign possessions prepared from the official seals, and expressed according to the laws of Heraldry. The only coat-of-arms of an individual is that of George Washington, at the top of the east elevation of the courtyard. The obverse and reverse of the great seal of the United States will be found above the east and west entrances, respectively, of the sally-port. Flanking the obverse of the great seal are the seal of the War Department and the device of the Corps of Engineers. In addition to the shields, the devices of the various staff departments, usually associated with a headquarters, have been placed in the sally-port. Two of them, the Adjutant-General’s Department, and the Quartermaster’s Department, are on shields on the north side of the sally-port, and the Subsistence Department, Signal Corps, Pay Department, Ordnance Department, Inspector-General’s Department, Judge-Advocate-General’s Department, Medical Department, and Chaplain’s Corps, are on corbels at the bases of the ribs of the arch.
Colonel Jonathan Williams, Corps of Engineers
First Superintendent of the Military Academy
From the Painting by Thomas Sully, Library U.S.M.A.
In the courtyard the names that are carved in the granite were selected for the following reasons:
| Williams | Colonel Jonathan Williams, first Superintendent of the Military Academy. |
| Swift | Colonel Joseph G. Swift, first graduate of the Military Academy. |
| Totten | General Joseph G. Totten, the tenth graduate and ex-officio the first inspector of the Military Academy while serving as Chief of Engineers from 1838-1864. |
| Thayer | Major Sylvanus Thayer, Father of the Military Academy. |
| Delafield | Colonel Richard Delafield, Superintendent from 1856 to 1861, under whose administration much construction was completed. |
| Jefferson | Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, during whose administration, 1801 to 1809, the Military Academy was founded. |
| Monroe | James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, 1817 to 1825, under whose administration the Military Academy developed and was encouraged. |
Upon the second floor is the Academic Board room, a Gothic hall illuminated with stained glass windows containing emblems of the various arts and sciences. The most striking feature of the room is the massive stone mantel, modeled by Laurie and ornamented with statuettes of the world’s greatest warriors.