Schwab Auditorium, or "Schwabatorium"

"SCHWAB AUDITORIUM: The first campus building to be financed by a private gift. Bethlehem Steel Corp. founder Charles M. Schwab, a member of the university's board of trustees, gave $150,000 to build the Beaux-Arts structure, which was completed in 1903."

Charles M. Schwab is not quite the household name that Andrew Carnegie is, for better or worse. A modern-day Charles Schwab Corporation exists, but it was founded by a totally unrelated Charles R. Schwab, which does not help things. The Schwab who funded the creation of the Schwab Auditorium, the one with the M in his name, was important in his own right, as well as the auditorium that bears his name.

Born in 1862. Charles M. Schwab was raised in Pennsylvania for his whole life. He was growing up during the time when the industrial revolution was really ramping up, which meant that Pennsylvania was quickly gaining its reputation in steel production thanks to Carnegie's efforts. Schwab had not even finished college before he left for Pittsburgh to work in the steel industry under the employ of Carnegie's company. The two shared certain common traits. Neither had totally finished their formal education; both started out very low in the chain of command in business; both would eventually work their way up, be promoted through the ranks, and eventually make millions of dollars and achieve a high status.

As Schwab was promoted, a number of differences began to emerge as well. Schwab seemed to be more suited for management work; when the disastrous Homestead Strike occurred and Carnegie failed to handle the backlash against him effectively, he turned to Schwab to restore relations with the workers, and he succeeded dramatically. Overall, Schwab was a much kinder and better boss than Carnegie. When Carnegie decided to leave his Carnegie Steel Company, he made Schwab its president, and Schwab became well known for his skills in management. 

He also became well known for spending his money in a much less judicious way than Carnegie had. Funding the Schwab Auditorium was one of his more generous moves, closely paralleling Carnegie's own efforts to fund libraries and public buildings throughout America, including at Penn State; less generous was his gambling, partying, and extramarital affairs which quickly made him poor despite his high position in the steel industry. When the stock market crashed in 1929, Schwab was left with nothing, and he died penniless in 1939. 

There's not a whole lot to say about the present state of the Schwab Auditorium. When it was being constructed, Schwab and Carnegie competed to build a bigger building than the other, a competition which Schwab won by a slight margin; I've already written about this story in my post on Andrew Carnegie. The auditorium, completed in 1903, was originally intended as a chapel, but now it's used as an auditorium by the College of Arts and Architecture.

Speaking of architecture, the building's architecture deserves mention. As stated on the sign, the auditorium was designed in the "Beaux-Arts" style. This style, developed in a Parisian school of the same name, was essentially a combination of various European styles popular at the time, and it was a preferred type of architecture in America during the early 1900s. Aspects of the Schwab Auditorium such as its flat roof, arches and pillars in doorways and windows, and details in carvings on the outside are a testament to the Beaux-Arts style, which Schwab donated massive amounts of time and money to replicating. As you pass by the Schwab Auditorium on your way to classes, take a moment to appreciate the architectural effort and attention to detail that went into it.