Riggs Hall

Riggs Hall is on the corner of Calhoun Drive and Fernow Street. It is the primary location of most ECE Department classes and labs, however the 3rd floor is also shared with Mechanical Engineering classes. The ground floor is primarily administrative offices. Riggs was constructed on the site of Old Mechanical Hall after it burned in April 1926. Designed by Rudolph E. Lee, the cornerstone was laid on November 3 1927, with completion in 1928. (Yandle, Bruce, "The Plowboy Scholar: Enoch Walter Sikes, 1925-1940", "Tradition: A History of the Presidency of Clemson University", McKale, Donald M., editor, Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia, 1988, ISBN 0-86554-296-1, page 155.)

The building is named for the father of Clemson University football, Walter Merritt Riggs, who came to Clemson in 1895 as a teacher of engineering and later became one of Clemson's strongest presidents. He organized and coached the 1896 and 1899 Tiger football teams. He served as Clemson's president from 1909 until his death on January 22, 1924.

Clemson lore says that the grotesques decorating the front of Riggs Hall depict the faces of past professors at the University.