Georgetown University, Healy Hall - View this location on map Exuberant High Victorian edifice with picturesque tower prominent on the city skyline; symbolic center of Georgetown University, oldest Catholic institution in the U.S.; named for Rev. Patrick F. Healy, first African-American Jesuit and president of a major university; Northern European Romanesque facades of Potomac gneiss with 334-foot clock tower; begun 1877, exteriors finished 1879, interiors 1901; Smithmeyer & Pelz, architects; interiors include arched hallways, extensive wood paneling and carving; Riggs Library (1889), notable for cast iron book stacks; Hirst Reading Room (1901), Gaston Hall (coffered ceiling with elaborate painted decoration attributed to Bro. Francis L. Schroem) 37th and O Streets, NW, Washington , DC Historical

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