原名格致室，又稱科學館。1998年改名為格致樓。2018年，華東政法大學對格致樓進行了長達10個月的文保修繕。
格致是格物致知的略語，圣約翰大學的格致室以此為名。1898年11月20日，格致室舉行奠基。1899年7月19日，新樓落成啟用。格致室是當時中國所有院校中第一座專門教授自然科學的校舍，也被叫作科學館。
“Gezhi” is an abbreviation of Ge Wu Zhi Zhi (meaning “to know is to investigate” ), which gave the name of the Gezhi Hall of St. John’s University. On November 20, 1898, a groundbreaking ceremony of the Gezhi Hall held, and on July 19, 1899, the new building was put into use. At that time, among all the colleges and universities in China, the Gezhi Hall was the first building that was used specifically for teaching natural science, and that’s why it was also known as the Science Hall.
格致室為三層磚木結構。西側墻面與韜奮樓相似，南立面為城堡式，增加了其古態，內曾設有人力升降器。建筑為中式大屋頂，屋檐飛揚起翹。底層為公共廊，落地長窗，二三層用玻璃弧拱窗全封閉。三層樓為U字形，中部裝有玻璃天窗，可采自然陽光。
The three-storey Gezhi Hall adopted a brick-and-timber structure. The wall on the west side is similar to that of the Taofen Building, and the south facade was castle-like, adding to an antique taste. There used to be a man-powered lift inside. The building took over a typical Chinese roof with upturned eaves. The ground floor was a public corridor with long floor-to-ceiling windows, while the first and second floors were fully enclosed with arched glass windows. The second floor was U-shaped, with a glass skylight in the middle to allow natural sunlight in.
2018年華東政法大學對格致樓進行了長達10個月的文保修繕：使用傳統工藝修復清水墻，讓墻面可以“呼吸”；恢復木窗，增設紗窗，兼顧原貌和保溫節能；實物打樣，恢復屋脊飛檐翹角；重現外廊，恢復中庭，呼應建筑整體風貌。這次修繕也是“圣約翰歷史建筑群”首例按照文物保護“不改變原物形狀”的原則，進行修繕復原的典型實例，為今后歷史建筑群的保護提供了可貴的借鑒。
In 2018, East China University of Political Science and Law carried out a 10-month-long renovation of the Gezhi Building, using traditional technology to repair the dry walls to allow the walls to “breathe”; restoring the wooden windows and adding screen windows to make it look original as well as energy-saving; proofing with real building objects to restore the cornices and the curved shape of the corners of the roof; and reproducing the veranda and restoring the atrium to echo the overall style of the building. This renovation project has also become the first typical example of repairing and restoring “St. John’s Historical Building Complex” in the principle of “maintaining the shape of the original objects” in terms of protection of cultural relics, providing valuable reference for the protection of other historical building complexes.
