Fackenthal Swimming Pool
Franklin and Marshall College
F&M College’s leading benefactor in the 1920s and 30s was Benjamin Franklin Fackenthal Jr. He donated most of the funds to build three campus buildings including this swimming-pool building in 1930, along with the library and the science building (today’s Patricia E. Harris Center).
Mr. Fackenthal was an iron-industry executive from Bucks County. He served as president of the college’s board of trustees from 1915 to 1941. F&M had been associated with the German Reformed Church, of which Mr. Fackenthal was a member. That denomination later became part of the U. C. C. The college went secular and co-ed in 1969.
This building’s design is attributed to Philadelphia architect Charles Z. Klauder. The architecture is a Georgian Colonial Revival style. It has a gambrel roof, an entry pavilion topped with a limestone balustrade, arch-top windows, and cartouches over the entries. In 1995 the new Kunkel Aquatic Center/McGinness Pool replaced this pool.
630 College Avenue (Building #19) Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Above: The former Fackenthal Swimming Pool
Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia)