The Walker Chemical Laboratory was financed by a $200,000 gift from Mrs. R. J. Walker in memory of her son Dr. William Weightman Walker, Class of 1886. The building, designed by Lawlor & Haase, was completed in 1907 and dedicated along with the Carnegie Building on June 12, 1907.

The Walker Chemical Laboratory is for its purpose one of the most completely equipped laboratories in this country. The lecture room is much like that of the former laboratory, but somewhat larger. One room is provided for water analysis, and another one for Quantitative work. The new assay laboratory is larger than the old one, and much more complete and convenient. The Qualitative Laboratory is the largest of its kind in America. Special attention has been given to the facilities for heating and for using H2S, -- a lesson learned from the deficiencies of the old laboratory. Six hoods have been provided for each of these purposes, so that thirty-six men can use H2S at once, while sixty-four are enabled to boil solutions or evaporate them to dryness at one time. The small H2S generators formerly used have been done away with, and the gas is formed in one large generator in the basement and piped to the various hoods. A rotary fan was also installed to clear the air of fumes and drive them out through the hoods, but this was not very successful. Transit, 1908, p. 19.

Image

Walker Laboratory has housed the undergraduate chemistry program since it opened. An addition was made in 1919. A two-year renovation was completed in 1996 to incorporate 21st century innovations in the teaching of chemistry, including state-of-the-art wet labs and the most advanced studio classrooms.