Dyche Museum - Kansas - City of Lawrence - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

My Commentary:
Dyche Hall is a definite must-see when on the University of Kansas campus. The museum has a working beehive, a huge ocean dinosaur fossil, and of course, Comanche, the only "Survivor" of the Battle of the Little Big Horn of Custer's Command. Comanche was Captain Keogh's horse. After Comanche's death at Ft. Riley, the horse was stuffed and ended up on display here at Dyche Hall.

The building itself is quite interesting. The building has all sorts of details such as horse head carvings at the top of the columns, chimeras at the top of the arches, and just an interesting tower in the middle of the building.

Here is more information on the building from the National Register application:
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"Dyche Hall, on the campus of the University of Kansas, is a four-story building with a full basement. The building faces east and features a tower on the east side.

The exterior, which is basically a Romanesque style, is of rough hewn limestone laid in irregular courses. The individual stones vary in size. Belt lines are featured at the floor lines plus a very decorative corbel belt along the fourth floor line. One of the building's highlights is the combination of column and arched roof detailing on the facades to give the impression of massive window units. These large false windows are very ornate and detailed in trim, including two carved stone gargoyles on each false window. On the front are double towers, an octagonal one of three stories and a square one rising three stories above the roof line. The top floor is all columns and windows reaching to the detailed cornice with an arcade directly above the arched main entry. The main entrance was said to have been modeled after one of the world's most beautiful portals that of St. Trophime at Aries, in southern France.

The roof form is in a hipped style and covered with red clay tile shingles. A detailed cornice provides a break between the walls and the roof. The main tower extends well above the roof to enhance the roofing structure. The tower's roof itself is a steeply pitched octagonal form with smaller roof elements on each of the tower's four sides.

The windows vary considerably from floor to floor. Few windows are placed on the first and second floors, except in the towers. Third floor windows are mainly thin rectangles with arched heads. The fourth floor windows sit behind the arcade and are basically rectangular in shape.

An addition was built to the north in 1963 to provide more classroom space.

Dyche Hall is regarded as one of the most distinctive buildings on the university campus. Together with nearby Green Hall and Spooner Hall, it forms a small core of architectural tradition on the campus."