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Iowa State’s distinguishing landmark is the campanile. Just thought I’d work that in there. I’d introduce you guys to Andréa, but you already know her as the author of the “Feel Art Again” posts here on mental_floss. A quick recap, though: Andréa attends Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia and is our resident art historian. -Stacy Conradt
10 Cool College Landmarks
by Andréa Fernandes
Each college needs something to make them stand out, whether it’s a famous grad, a spook legend, or an awesome architectural wonder. After searching far and wide for cool college buildings, I’m beginning to wonder if I made the right college decision after all… Oh, who am I kidding, I love my school.
Anyway, I now present to you, in no particular order, 10 college landmarks that just might inspire you to go back to college.
1. Stata Center
MIT’s three-year-old Computer, Information, and Intelligence Sciences Center contains research facilities, classrooms, an auditorium, fitness facilities, a childcare center, and even “social areas” along an “interior student street.” Designed by Frank Gehry and highly praised for its unique design, the building has not been without problems. Evidently, MIT has paid $1.5 million to fix problems that include cracks, drainage backups, and mold; the school is now suing Gehry for neglect, including the construction company as well.
2. Nott Memorial
The centerpiece of Union College, in upstate New York, is the 16-sided memorial to the school’s 1804-1866 president, Eliphalet Nott, whose tenure is the longest of any American college president. Over 130 years old, the building is a National Historic Landmark and houses the Mandeville Gallery for art, science, and history exhibitions.
3. Sun Yat-Sen Hall
At St. John’s University in Queens, NY, the Institute of Asian Studies is housed in Sun Yat-Sen Hall. Concerns arose at the school in fall 2006, when rumors surfaced that the treasured building would be demolished and replaced with new offices and a cafeteria. Thankfully, the pagoda was merely up for a renovation. The Dr. M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery is also located in the building; display items in the gallery are about 50 percent Chinese, 50 percent Japanese, and include a samurai sword.
4. Grey Towers Castle
Arcadia University’s trademark castle is 110 years old and is home to the Mirror Room (the ballroom of years past), a Grand Hall (with a carved wood staircase), student residences, and, of course, gargoyles. The castle, which was designed by Horace Trumbauer, was inspired by Alnick Castle in England. If you’re ever in the Philadelphia area in October, you can stop in for the school’s annual Haunted Castle event.
5. Student Center
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) only acquired its student center four years ago. The building, now almost 100-years-old, was originally the Congregation B’nai B’rith Synagogue and has also housed St. Andrew’s Independent Episcopal Church. Featuring balconies, carved wooden pillars, Moorish-style domes, and stained glass, the student center now houses a café, a SCAD-designed bench, workstations, and Napping Pods.
6. Cadet Chapel
The United States Air Force Academy’s 150-feet chapel actually houses three chapels—Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish—as well as two worship rooms for people of any faith. Walter Netsch, Jr.’s creation is made of aluminum, glass, and steel with 17 spires, though apparently, “There is no significance to this number.”
7. Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium:
The auditorium at Arizona State University was one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last works. Built in 1964, the auditorium was designed by Wright to be “as acoustically perfect as possible.” Apparently, Wright played a joke on the school (supposedly for turning down his original idea): from overhead, Gammage looks like a toilet. (Check it out on Google Maps if you don’t believe me.)
8. Library/ETC
At Evergreen Valley College, a community college in California, the combined library and educational technology center contains 21st-century resources in an environment that provides an “indoor/outdoor feel.” The building, which has no specific back, contains “branches” that support the elevated ceiling in the reading room. The many windows let in ample natural light for a comfortable reading atmosphere. Designed by Steinberg Architects, the building received an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects’ chapter in Santa Clara Valley.
9. Memorial Church
The chapel at Stanford is decorated with mosaics with tiles in over 20,000 shades of color. Known as “MemChu,” the chapel has been the wedding site for 7,500 couples in the last 105 years. The chapel contains four organs and the university organist has been known to treat early morning visitors to impromptu concerts.
And finally, one that was just to good not to include, even if it’s not in the States…
10. School of Drama
In Melbourne, Australia, Victorian College of the Arts’ School of Drama is a whimsical building that houses class, lecture, and performance spaces. A performance was held inside before the building was even completed! Designed by the architectural firm CS+T, the school “features random balconies with perforated metal balustrades, curved and skewed walls in an array of contrasting colours and a series of non-rectilinear windows.” The drawbacks to a building this cool are the potential safety and access problems; fortunately, these were dealt with “very successfully.”
I know there’s no way I found all the cool college architecture, so tell me: What’s the coolest or most unique college building you’ve ever seen?
Check out the rest of our College Weekend festivities.
Comments (21)
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You left the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning of your list. It’s the second-tallest education building in the world, standing 42 stories and 535 feet tall. The Late Gothic Revival designed building contains a beautiful Commons Room and 26 Nationality Rooms.
posted by Abby on 2-9-2008 at 9:02 am
I was going to say the same thing, Abby! Between the Cathedral of Learning and Heinz Chapel, Pitt has some of the most compelling Art-Deco/Late Gothic architecture you can find on the planet! The CoL is definitely the MOST “cool” college landmark!
Pitt also has the infamous “Stairway to Nowhere,” another great architectural “cool” spot!
posted by Kelly on 2-9-2008 at 10:24 am
I attended grad school at Arcadia. The castle is pretty impressive. We had a few dinners in the Mirror Room, very pretty.
posted by Danyel on 2-9-2008 at 1:01 pm
I went to school at Westminster College in Fulton MO. This is where Winston Churchill gave his famous “Iron Curtain” speech. To commemorate the speech they moved a 17th Century Christopher Wren church to Fulton.
posted by Scott on 2-9-2008 at 1:42 pm
At the University of Toronto, Robarts Library is designed to look like an enormous, 20-floor phoenix. From most angles, though, it more closely resembles a turkey.
posted by Shana on 2-9-2008 at 5:17 pm
Durham University (in Durham City, Durham, England) occupies Durham Castle, which was built in the late 11th century. It’s pretty amazing…going to school in a thousand year old building…
posted by ceej on 2-9-2008 at 7:56 pm
At Flagler College, in St. Augustine, Florida, the women’s dorm is the old Ponce De Leon Hotel, which was opened by Henry Flagler (formerly a partner of John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil) in 1888. Flagler is said to have started the tourism industry in Florida (sorry Disney). The hotel was designed by Carrere and Hastings, with stained glass windows made by Louis Comfort Tiffany and the wiring for the hotel done by Thomas Edison. In 1969, the hotel (after years of not being a hotel) was reopened as the women’s dorm at the school, and while the inside halls are generic dorm, the rooms are still hotelish, weirdly shaped and some have fireplaces and plaster decorations on the walls. The dining hall (the former resturant for the hotel) is still the same and absolutely goregeous, with the same Tiffany windows. The fourth floor held the ballroom and is now condemned so students can’t get up there, but we all tried. The dorm is home to several ghosts, including Flagler’s second wife, Mary Alice, who people claim he locked in one of the rooms in the hotel that was filled with mirrors and she went crazy and died. The door to the room is locked and there is no explanation why. The school will not acknowledge the ghosts though. It was a fun place to live!
posted by Allyson on 2-9-2008 at 8:18 pm
The Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus is stunning.
Gammage (at ASU) is stunning inside, too, despite it’s toilet look from space. :-)
posted by dawn on 2-9-2008 at 10:23 pm
Geisel Library at University of San Diego, has got to be on the short list of remarkable libraries. Named after Dr. Seuss (his real name) it is in the shape of a mushroom and has large cavernous room underground as well. Great place to study with lots of quiet areas and great views. Wikipedia calls it a design of “brutalist architecture”
posted by Christian on 2-9-2008 at 11:34 pm
Very interesting list.
How about Florida Southern University in Lakeland, FL, which has 12 buildings designed by Frank Llloyd Wright?
Thanks.
posted by racegeek on 2-10-2008 at 9:40 am
The Red Gym at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. It was an armory during the Civil War and was a gym in the early 1900s before the Field House (and then the Kohl Center) took over. It’s an incredible building sitting right on the Lake Mendota.
posted by Kyle on 2-11-2008 at 12:48 am
That auditorium at University of Arizona totally does look like a toilet from above – wow…nice one Frank Lloyd Wright – Does anyone know if it was truly intentional?
posted by soph on 2-11-2008 at 10:48 am
Correction on the Cadet Chapel at the Air Force Academy. The original design called for 12 spires, for the 12 apostles. This wasn’t enough, so they added 5 (total 17). The five is for the five military chiefs of staff.
posted by Patrick on 2-11-2008 at 1:49 pm
These are all pretty cool. In one of my architecture classes, we took a field trip to see the MIT building. My roommate’s high school graduation was at the ASU building. She didn’t notice its resemblance to a toilet, though.
posted by Juliana on 2-11-2008 at 8:36 pm
Patrick: Thanks for the explanation on the spires. The USAFA had the quote on the lack of significance to the number, and actually states that the original design called for more, but I like your explanation.
posted by Andréa on 2-11-2008 at 9:13 pm
Thanks for a SUPER post, Andréa! I don’t have any unique college architecture to add, esp. since my own experience was at U of Delaware, which doesn’t have anything particularly out of the ordinary. (But maybe a new student center shaped like a giant Blue Hen would be cool…)
posted by Therese on 2-13-2008 at 4:58 am
Ceej-
My aunt was a French professor at Durham University! We went and visited once, it is pretty cool.
posted by greenstrawberries on 2-25-2008 at 4:07 am
Thank you for including a Community College site. Our Library is a pleasure to study and work in and delight to the eyes, too. Joy
posted by Joy Chase on 2-27-2008 at 10:58 am
I went to Brandeis University and we have a castle on campus as well. However it was not all that conventional in design, if there is such a thing as a conventional castle. It was built in the 1800’s by the founder of a vet school which inhabited the campus before Brandeis was founded. The story goes that he modeled it after a Scottish castle that he did not have the blueprints for. So he based it on sketches of the outside only. The inside doesn’t make much sense architecturally. There are staircases and hallways leading nowhere and windows in odd places. The co-creators of the tv show Friends actually went to Brandeis and based the set of The Central Perk on the coffee house located on the first floor of the castle. Just thought I’d share a cool landmark of note.
posted by anna on 3-9-2008 at 10:00 pm
anna: I actually applied to Brandeis, and loved the castle! I had a hard time finding facts/photos of the castle online, though, which is why it got left off the list.
posted by Andréa on 4-10-2008 at 11:09 pm
The University of Tampa was always a dream school for me growing up. Plant Hall is a beautiful building, and is a symbol of the city. The building is topped with gleaming silver minarets, and was formerly the Tampa Bay Hotel. Built between 1888 and 1891 by Henry B. Plant, it was supposed to be a winter vacation destination. This building is now the administration building, and some of the building has been maintained as a museum for the public to view the hotel’s past grandeur.
posted by jd on 5-15-2008 at 9:59 pm