Maxfield Hall (Mechanical Laboratory)
When the Rice Institute opened in 1912, it occupied a 294-acre plot of land a mile beyond the Houston city limits on a dirt road extension of Main Street. The institute had to provide its own electricity, and a portion of this building, one of the original four structures on the Rice campus, was devoted to precisely that. It also contained, and continues to house, office and classroom space as well as a working cogeneration plant.
The building was once known only as the "Mechanical Laboratory" but has since been renamed Maxfield Hall.
What’s there:
Built: 1912, Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson
Rice Campus Map No. 55