The historical “main” building of ETH was finished 150 years ago, in 1864. Or rather, the first version was finished, since it was altered and extended quite a bit since then (as did the surroundings!). In a recent NZZ article, I saw this picture
of the building as it looked in 1870. The red square indicates where my office is located…
Nice! But this begs the question: *who* occupied this office in 1870 ?
I have no idea, and since the building contained, at the time, all of ETH, it might have been “something” instead of someone (from administration to lecture room to organic chemistry lab…)
With seemingly a prime view on the valley (pun intended) I’d surmise it was someone rather than something.
I don’t speak german, but pages 119-122 of the google book id=YwBMAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA119 seem to have student numbers and the list of the then professors (but no office numbers unfortunately), while the book id=WxZMAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA11 has professor names with some numbers but maybe these are not office numbers.