Situated within the vast expanse of the University of California at Davis (UC Davis), Haring Hall was a cornerstone of veterinary education for over sixty years. This emblematic building has nurtured the aspirations of countless veterinarians. Now, amid swirling rumors of demolition and renovation, the future of Haring Hall teeters on the edge, highlighting the fragile balance between preserving our heritage and embracing progress.
During a recent stroll around the UC Davis campus, I revisited many personal milestones achieved within Haring Hall. As a Neurology Resident in 1978, it was here that I first delved into bench research in Dr. Ralph Kitchell’s laboratory. I can still recall the intense discussions in the main lecture theater, the rigorous questioning by Dr. George Cardinet III on muscle histochemistry, and the nerve-wracking defense of my doctoral thesis before a distinguished committee. It was also in this hall that I delivered my first lecture to veterinary students and taught neurosurgery to Japanese veterinarians under Dr. Robert Leighton’s mentorship.
Since its inception in 1949, Haring Hall has been more than just a building; it is a monument to the pioneering spirit of the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis. Clarence M. Haring (1878-1951), the school’s visionary founder and Dean from 1947 to 1948, laid the foundational stones for one of the leading veterinary schools in the nation. Named in his honor shortly after his death in 1951, the building serves as a lasting tribute to his influential legacy.
The veterinary program at UC traces its origins to 1894 at the San Francisco campus, where it briefly operated until 1899, closing due to financial difficulties and low enrollment after graduating just ten students. The concept was revived post-World War II, solidifying in 1946 with legislative support, marking a period of rejuvenation and growth that led to the establishment of the school at Davis.
Haring Hall stood at the heart of the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis. Within its walls generations of students flourished into prominent veterinarians, significantly advancing animal health and welfare. Yet, since 2020, the building has been dormant, its fate hanging in the balance.
A renovation initiative launched in 2020 to transform Haring Hall into a state-of-the-art instructional facility, has stalled. Now, there is talk of possibly demolishing the building to make way for a new educational structure rising three to four stories.
This potential development raises important concerns about preserving the architectural and historical integrity of Haring Hall, especially its distinctive low reliefs. It is my fervent hope that these artistic elements will be preserved and integrated into any new structure, symbolically linking the past with the future.
As the future of Haring Hall remains uncertain, it is crucial to cherish it not merely as a physical structure, but as a beacon of the relentless pursuit of knowledge and commitment to veterinary medicine that Clarence M. Haring so profoundly embodied.
Epilogue (Information supplied by the Vet Med Dean's Office [VMDO])
The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine was given permission to relocate the sandstone reliefs from the facade of Haring to the Vet Med Instruction Facility during the planning/construction. It was determined that the reliefs were thin and fragile. It was highly likely that they would break apart during their removal. Consequently, molds have been made and the replicas used in several ways:
installed on the entrance to Valley Hall
smaller replicas of the reliefs are currently used for the Alumni awards and the Schalm Lecture speaker
embedded in the Scholarship Wall at the entrance of VMDO
There is an understanding with campus, that when Haring Hall is taken down or the façade renovated, there would be a renewed effort to salvage the sandstone reliefs.
UC Davis Magazine Volume 24 · Number 4 · Summer 2007
Cast in a new site
For close to six decades, bas-relief animals have greeted veterinary students at the east entrance of Haring Hall. Beginning this fall, veterinary students will no longer take classes or labs in Haring, which opened in 1950 as the School of Veterinary Medicine’s first building. But the animal images are following the students - in replica at least. Casts of the friezes have been installed at the entrance to the new instructional Gladys Valley Hall. John Pascoe, executive associate dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, said he looked into moving the original friezes but had reproductions made instead because of concerns that they could be damaged. The original works were created by sculptor Richard O’Hanlon, who in the 1930s assisted Mexican muralist Diego Rivera on a fresco at the San Francisco Art Institute and who taught art and architecture at UC Berkeley during 1947–74.
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