Linus Burr Smith

Linus Burr Smith was hired as Chairman of the Department of Architecture at the University of Nebraska in 1934. Trained at Kansas State College, Harvard University, and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Smith taught and practiced in Kansas for a decade before joining the faculty in Lincoln. With Thomas W Williamson, he designed Topeka High School, a building still in use today.

Following World War II, Smith was made a member of the Board of Regents Building Subcommittee and in this capacity he played a role in the design of several new buildings constructed between 1948 and the mid 1950s. He was at least partially responsible for the design of Agronomy (now Keim Hall), the Adminisitration Building (Canfield Hall), Biochemistry Hall, the Meat Laboratory, and Lyman Hall (razed in 2000). Smith was a talented watercolorist and a colorful campus character. He was affiliated with the Department of Architecture for over thirty years, retiring in 1965.