The best heads around

Some of the most dramatic carvings can be seen just inside the main entrance at Lovett Hall’s Sallyport. Here, the heads of some of the world’s most prominent scholars can be found. There’s Louis Pasteur, the French chemist who helped create vaccines and pasteurization. There’s Thomas Jefferson, Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Galton and Christopher Columbus as well.

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Covered in snakes

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Goofy looking freshmen

The columns of the Sallyport are carved to portray the four stages of college life: It starts with the face of the silly looking freshmen.

Wise senior

It ends with the head of the wise and handsome graduate wearing his mortar board.

Campus life in a nutshell

Carved into Lovett Hall are these three figures meant to represent typical campus life. The co-ed on the left is stared at by the student ignoring his book in the middle and the football player chasing after her on the right.

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The man who started it all

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Rice’s exclusive owls

For some mysterious reason, the owls that are on the back of his chair are of a style seen only on this statue and nowhere else.

Lovett Hall cornerstone

You can’t even enter the academic quad without running into an erudite quote. This one comes from Eusebius of Caesarea: “’Rather,’ said Democritus, ‘would I discover the cause of one fact than become king of the Persians.’”

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Representing the arts

On the southern side of the Sallyport, this goddess raises up her arms. If you look closely you can see the words: “Love, beauty, joy and worship are forever building, unbuilding and rebuilding in each man’s soul.”

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Look even closer

The woman’s face is a depiction of sculptor Lassig’s wife.

Attention to detail

Along the columns and curved arches of the Sallyport, look closely and you’ll see floral carvings with squirrels, fish and birds. You’ll see elaborate depictions of a man with a ram, held up by two other men. Look even closer and you’ll realize there are no breaks in the carvings. They were all carved by hand, freeform after the marble blocks were put in place.

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Houston has roadrunners, right?

You’ll also find these roadrunners, sometimes called chaparrals. In his pamphlet, “Walking Tour of Rice” author James C. Morehead, Jr. calls them “birds of questionable ancestry.”

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Owls everywhere

The owl is Rice University’s mascot and Athena’s symbol of wisdom and knowledge. The architects decorated the campus with them at every opportunity. The variations in design are fun to look for. We like to call these guys “pine-owl-ples”

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Elaborate, nerdy pranks

These bronze owls in the original physics building, now Herzstein Hall, went missing in 1983. Antique dealers around the country were on the alert for them. When Dr. Stephen Baker offered a $500 reward for information leading to their recovery, he received an anonymous poem and riddle that led to their recovery. Two were found on the roof of Lovett Hall, and the other two were in the basement, according to Morehead.

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Another favorite owl

This owl over the main entrance to Herzstein Hall serves as “a pigeon rookery,” according to Morehead. He calls it his favorite. The chisel marks that make the feathers are spectacular.

Angry looking dolphin

The features on all the old buildings are incredible, but these door handles on Herzstein Hall are amazing. If you look closely, they’re supposed to be dolphins.

Careful where you tell your secrets

Nestled in the old physics building are a pair of whispering niches. Secrets told on one side will be easily heard on the other.

The Giotto cathedral tower in Italy

In the cloister connecting Lovett Hall with Herzstein Hall are these medallions that imitate the style found in Italy, according to Morehead. They represent, the shield of the state of Texas, agriculture, geography, literature, meteorology, sculpture and the shield of Rice Institute.

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Fondren Library and the development of writing

When the facade of Fondren Library was redone, the plaques depicting the development of writing were carefully moved to the new archways in front. Here, the Egyptians can be seen with the hieroglyphs. There are five plaques in all. If you look closely across the expanse of the entire building, you’ll notice they’re out of chronological order.

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Not exactly the Illuminati

At the top of the chemistry building is this elaborate joke: it’s called Kircher’s enigma and was designed by alchemists to confuse observers and conceal a basic principle of alchemy. The first letter of each word in the outer ring spells “svlphvr” or sulphur. In the middle ring it spells “fixvm” and in the inner ring “est sol”. If you put this all together you get: “sulphur fixum est sol.” Still not sure what that means? It means “Fixed sulphur is synonymous with gold.” Rice students have quite the sense of humor.

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Architect students everywhere: bow down

On the corner of Keck Hall, in the chemistry department, inside jokes are carved forever into the columns. In this relief, architect William Ward Watkin who was tall and lanky, was carved into stone with architecture students bowing down to him.

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Tough teachers

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Chemistry 101

On this column, a freshman chemistry student tries to extract poison from the dragon’s tooth with a Bunsen burner. Silly freshmen.

The two fates

According to Morehead, this column was originally supposed to depict the three fates, with Samuel Glenn McCann, the director of admissions, spinning the thread of knowledge; Harry Caldwell, the dean of the Institute, measuring by grades the thread of knowledge; and Dr. Radoslav Tsanoff, chairman of the Committee on Examinations and Standings, severing the academic thread with a pair of scissors.
But they didn’t leave enough room for all three fates, so only two made the final product: McCann and Caldwell.

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More depictions of campus life

In perhaps some of the funniest sculptures on campus, this set of terra cotta reliefs at Will Rice College were designed by William McVey. In this particular square from the series a broke and naked student sends a letter home asking for money.

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When football was king

Believe it or not, Rice was at one time, a force in college football. In fact, the well-known Heisman trophy was named after John William Heisman who coached at Rice from 1924 to 1927. 

Penrose pattern

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Secret Bible verses

If you look very closely at the capitals of these Baker College columns you can decipher the wisdom of Solomon.

Everlasting light

On these, the lettering spells out: “I prayed and understanding was given me. I called upon God and the spirit of wisdom came into me. For wisdom is a breath of the power of God. She is the reflection of the everlasting light.”

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Biology in the bricks

On the side of the Anderson Biological Laboratories, bricks are scattered across the façade with images from the study of biology. From left to right and top to bottom: scorpion, DNA, jellyfish, moth, squid, earthworm, cell division and a trilobite. Campus lore holds that a bricklayer, unfamiliar with marine animals, installed a jellyfish brick upside-down. We went looking for it and couldn’t find it. If you know where it is, please send us a photo at photos@chron.com.

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Friendly campus squirrel