Peyton Hall, home of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences, was built in 1966 with grants from the National Science and Ford Foundations and other gifts and named for William Charles Peyton, father of Bernard Peyton '17 (chairman of the department's Advisory Council), who made the largest individual gift. With its neighbors, Fine Hall of Mathematics and Jadwin Physical Laboratory, it stands just west of Palmer Stadium. Peyton Hall was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, who was also the architect of Woodrow Wilson Hall.

The building contains a library, laboratories, faculty offices, lecture and seminar rooms, and two telescopes, one 9-inch and the other 4-inch, for student instruction. The smaller telescope belonged to William Charles Peyton, a life-long amateur student of astronomy.

The department's facilities also include a 36-inch reflecting telescope in the FitzRandolph Observatory east of Palmer Stadium.

Source: Leitch p. 360 ff

Peyton Hall in Evolution of the Campus

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