Edward Tuckerman Potter

Edward Tuckerman Potter's work elsewhere - the First Reformed Church on Union Street in Schenectady, and the church of the Good Shepard, Colt Parish House, and Mark Twain's home, all in Hartford, Connecticut - is ebullient and programmatic:

Capitals are richly worked, arches are ornamented, and the ornately patterned polychrome slate roofs glow like tapestries. Five- and six-pointed stars are almost invariably worked into stone glass, wood, and slate at key positions.

In the more arcane and mysterious Nott Memorial, the most extravagant elements of design are not easy to decipher, and Potter has left us little guidance regarding the symbolic implications of his work. Earlier designs for the structure drew heavily on the Roman Pantheon and, in that spirit, the final design incorporates symbols from many of the world's major religions. In addition, the six-pointed stars may symbolize the macrocosmos, the unity of all creation, and the five stars the microcosmos, the exquisite design of each diverse element makes up creation. Finally, the architect makes extensive use of Euclidian forms including the Golden Section, and the great windows of the sixteen faces conform to a design modulus based on this Euclidian motif. Incorporating many diverse elements from both religion and rationalism, the Nott Memorial is a magnificently-unified whole and a fitting symbol for a college called 'Union.'

A major restoration and renovation of the Nott Memorial was completed at a cost of $11 million (nearly 1,800 donors) for the celebration of the College's Bicentennial in February 1995. three horizontal belts of concrete and steel were installed on the inner face of the mason drum and tied to sixteen steel-reinforced columns to reinforce the drum and stabilize the building. Though all of the illuminatrors were replaced during renovation, only fifteen percent of the floor tiles needed replacement. Insulation, air conditioning, heating, an audio system, illumination, fire control, an elevator, fire stairs, improved accessibility, and many other modern elements unite with the original building to create a magnificent space for conferences, lectures, exhibitions, and study.