Roger A. Sutherland

Class of 1919

Lane Library was designed by noted architect Roger A. Sutherland of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He majored in math and biology at Ripon and earned a master’s degree from the Harvard Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University.

Completed in 1931, Lane Library is in the Beaux-Arts classical style and is dominated by a colossal Ionic portico and a two-story central block flanked by wings. French entrance doors are framed by fluted pilasters and a plain entablature with the biblical inscription “He That Doeth Truth Cometh to the Light.”

Sutherland also designed Merriman House, a fraternity house on campus.

He designed numerous homes in Fond du Lac and other cities in Wisconsin, and he donated the plans for the Fond du Lac lighthouse in Lakeside Park.

He received RIpon’s Distinguished Alumni Citation in 1953.