Danforth Campus
| Washington University in St. Louis | |
 |
|
| Danforth Campus | |
| Style | Collegiate gothic |
| Erected | 1902 |
| Location |
St. Louis, Missouri 38°38′14″N 90°15′48″W / 38.63722°N 90.26333°W |
| Namesake | Danforth Foundation, Dr. William H. Danforth |
| Architects | Cope & Stewardson; Frederick Law Olmsted; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Fumihiko Maki |
| Website | http://www.wustl.edu |
The Danforth Campus is the main campus at Washington University in St. Louis. Formerly known as the Hilltop Campus, it was officially dedicated as the Danforth Campus on September 17, 2006, in honor of William H. Danforth, the 13th Chancellor of the University, the Danforth family and the Danforth Foundation. Distinguished by its collegiate gothic architecture, the 169-acre (0.68 km2) campus lies at the western boundary of Forest Park, partially in the City of St. Louis. Most of the campus (including almost all academic and administrative buildings) is in a small enclave of unincorporated St. Louis County, while all the campus area south of Forsyth Boulevard (mostly student housing) is in suburban Clayton. Immediately to the north across Forest Park Parkway is University City.
The construction of Danforth Campus was accelerated through a profitable lease of several buildings to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. During the fair, Brookings Hall, Busch Hall, Cupples I & II Halls, Francis Field & Gymnasium (site of the 1904 Summer Olympics), Ridgley Hall, Eads Hall, and Prince Hall (a men's dormitory) were used as administrative and exhibition spaces. At the fair's conclusion, the newly constructed buildings assumed their original functions as classrooms and administrative offices. Additionally, Francis Field and Gymnasium were converted for use by the Washington University athletic department.
The landscape design of the Danforth Campus was created in 1895 by Olmsted, Olmsted, & Eliot, a firm best known for designing New York City's Central Park. In 1899, after holding a national design competition, Washington University's administrators selected the Philadelphia firm Cope & Stewardson to design the entire campus.Cope & Stewardson, a firm known for its mastery of Collegiate Gothic, designed Brookings Hall as a centerpiece of a new campus plan. The plan, modeled after the distinctive quadrangles of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, has guided the construction and expansion of the Danforth Campus to the present day.
...
Wikipedia