Unlike many universities situated in Korea, several official names of the buildings of Ewha sound very foreign. The reason being is that some buildings have their own foreign contributors whose face most of us have never seen. The Ewha Voice uncovered stories of three major Ewha buildings and their names.
Welch Ryang Auditorium
Welch Ryang Auditorium, also known as Grand Auditorium, was named after Herbert Welch, the first director of Korean Methodist church and Ryang Ju-sam who was the first Korean pastor of Methodist church. They were meaningful for Ewha in the sense that both of them were pioneers in the development of Korean Methodist church.
At the time of its construction, Welch Ryang Auditorium was the biggest auditorium in Asia. It was used as a national auditorium and held various art performances before the establishment of the Sejong Center in 1978.
But the construction path was not necessarily smooth. As the period of construction went on, people began to worry whether it can be completed before the 70th anniversary of Ewha. It was delayed because of the lack of granite for the auditorium and microphones and amplifiers which were stolen. Although the opening ceremony for the building was only four days away, the construction was not finished. The invited Americans doubted whether the ceremony could be held on the scheduled day. However, when very day arrived, everyone was surprised by both the size and appearance of the building. The completion of the auditorium was due to the fairly organized division of labor and Koreans outstanding unity and sincerity.
The construction drew adulation from Koreans and alike Americans, and these who constructed the building were praised for their diligene. Now the auditorium is staunchly located showing off its antique yet imposing figure, greeting students who step on the long, steap staircase in front of the building.
Pfeiffer Hall
A gothic building made of uncouth bricks, which makes it stand out among all the other marble buildings surrounding it, is called Pfeiffer Hall. Pfeiffer Hall was named to commemorate Mr. and Mrs. Pfeiffer who donated the greatest amount of money for constructing Ewha's Shinchon campus.
“Mr. and Mrs. Pfeiffer had never been to Korea, but they pleasantly donated when Principal Appenzeller asked,” said Park Yoon-jin, a researcher at Ewha Archives.
There is a Pfeiffer Hall not only at Ewha, but also at Chungang University; this means that they donated to various educational organizations. In fact, they donated about 16 million US dollars around the world from 1919 to 1946.
From 1935 to the early 1950s, Pfeiffer Hall was used mostly to provide various classes for Ewha students. However, there were not only classrooms, but also a cafeteria, which sold soup that costs only a won, a hair-salon, and even a shoe repair shop.
As the school started to build up the campus after the Korean War, Pfeiffer Hall changed its function, dealing with administrative work.
Morris Hall
Morris Hall was built to commemorate Ms. Morris who first created and developed the Department of Domestic Science at Ewha.
As soon as Morris came to Ewha, she started to invest a part of her salary, which amounted to about 100 dollars for 50 years, then donated money to Ewha for a construction fund.
Also the first elevator among Ewha buildings was built in this hall. After the construction, Ms. Morris sent several traditional artifacts which she collected since Japanese colonial period to the College of Domestic Science, and those are still displayed there.