Campus Buildings Directory

1120 W. 11th St. 66044-2902

The Audio-Reader Center opened in November 1988 after the original 1910 building—formerly the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity house—was renovated by von Achen Chartered Architects. The center, a statewide reading service for blind and visually impaired people staffed largely by volunteer readers, is named for the Louis and Dolpha Baehr Charitable Foundation of Paola, Kan., a major donor to its programs.

See also: Broadcasting Hall; Max Kade Center

1440 Jayhawk Blvd. 66045-7545

Bailey Hall, completed in 1900, was designed by John G. Haskell and built in response to surging enrollments in chemistry and pharmacy that made the 1883 Chemistry Hall (“the Shack”), also designed by Haskell, too small and outdated. It was named in 1938 for E.H.S. Bailey, beloved professor (1883-1933) and department head (1883-1918), noted chemist and creator of the original “Rock Chalk” chant. He helped design the 1900 limestone structure, technically the New Chemistry Building but known from the first as “Bailey’s barn”; in 1954 the chemistry department and the School of Pharmacy moved to the new Malott Hall. After renovations, the School of Education occupied the hall until 2001, when it moved into expanded and updated quarters in Joseph R. Pearson Hall. Bailey now houses several College of Liberal Arts and Sciences programs, including the Department of Communication Studies; African and African-American, American and European studies; African, East Asian, Latin American, and Russian and East European studies centers; humanities and Western civilization; and women’s studies. The Oread limestone building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

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See also: Joseph R. Pearson Hall; Malott Hall

See: Lied Center of Kansas

1425 Alumni Place 66044-3113

This hall housing 48 students was the first men’s residence hall built at the university. It was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Battenfeld of Kansas City in memory of their son John Curry, killed in a car accident in December 1939. Designed by Morton Payne and Russell Field of Kansas City, the three-story Georgian brick building opened in September 1940. It was built on part of the former Brynwood Manor estate, acquired by Olin Templin of the Endowment Association in 1939. That house was refurbished and opened as Templin Hall, a scholarship residence for 38 men, in fall 1940.

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See also: Hashinger Residence Hall; Sprague Apartments

1541 Lilac Lane 66044-3129

The first hall on this site was a physics building designed by State Architect Seymour Davis in imitation of a French chateau admired by physics professor Lucien I. Blake. A dapper character with a vivacious personality, Blake was also a noted scientist in electricity, thermodynamics and X-rays. The building housed classrooms, labs and auditoria and was completed in 1895 south of Old Fraser Hall; it was superseded in 1954 when physics and other science departments moved to Malott Hall. It was empty for several years before it was determined that it could not be economically renovated and was razed in 1963. On its general footprint was erected a cut- and rough-stone, six-story building with twice the usable square footage and had the red roof of other central campus buildings. The name was retained but political science, sociology, social work and human relations were housed there. Blake Hall now houses the departments of public administration, political science and linguistics; the Policy Research Institute; and classrooms and seminar rooms.

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See also: Malott Hall; Fraser Hall

Burcham Park
220 Indiana St. 66044

Opened at ceremonies Feb. 28, 2009, that also acknowledged the 40th anniversary of women’s athletics at KU, the 16,000-square-foot boathouse was designed by Peterson Architects of Cambridge, Mass., and Treanor Architects of Lawrence.

It is sited near the shore of the Kansas River north of the Massachusetts Street bridge and has four boat bays, locker rooms, showers, a kitchen, laundry facilities, a study area, and a separate medical training facility for the men’s and women’s rowing teams. The $6-million facility was funded in part by a student tuition fee.

Allen Fieldhouse
1651 Naismith Drive 66045-7800

In June 2005, construction began on the hall of athletics on the east face of the fieldhouse. The two-story, 26,000-square-foot facility was designed by HOK Sport+Venue+Event of Kansas City, Mo., and opened Jan. 21, 2006. It houses a hall of fame for Kansas athletes and sports, with a special emphasis on the contributions of James Naismith, inventor of basketball, KU’s first basketball coach and a longtime faculty member; and Forrest C. “Phog” Allen, KU’s great coach, who played for Naismith. The hall also includes the ticket office; www.kustore.com; and donor, alumni and recruiting meeting rooms.

It is named for the late Gilbert and Betty Booth, staunch KU supporters who lived a few blocks from the fieldhouse. More than $4 million of the $8 million cost was carried by donations from their children and grandchildren: David (1968 bachelor’s in economics, 1969 master’s in business) and Suzanne Booth of Los Angeles and their children, Erin and Chandler; Mark and Lauren Bacich Booth of London and their children, Miles, Coco and Cyrus; and Mark and Jane Booth Berkley of Tescott, Kan., and their children and spouses, Stuart and Tina Berkley, Elizabeth and Pete Reininga, and Melissa and Marko Ungashick.

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See also: Allen Fieldhouse

2031 Constant Ave. 66047-3729

Francis H. Snow, one of the first three professors at the university, held the natural history chair and founded KU’s botanical collection, which was housed in old and new Snow halls. Ronald L. McGregor, herbarium director 1954-88, oversaw a huge expansion in specimens, and to accommodate it the collection was moved to this 9,000-square-foot West Campus redbrick building, designed by George Beal, in 1966. The research laboratory and herbarium are affiliated with the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center. The building is named for Joseph Sterling Bridwell (1885-1966), oil operator and cattle breeder from Wichita Falls, Texas, who funded KU research into developing better strains of grasses and legumes for cattle. In 1985, the Bridwell Foundation endowed the construction of the east wing laboratory, designed by Kenneth O. van Achen. The herbarium was named in McGregor’s honor after his retirement. Bridwell also houses research space, a library, a slide collection and more than 350,000 pressed specimens.

See also: Snow Hall

1120 W. 11th St. 66044-2902

Completed and opened in September 2003, the building houses Kansas Public Radio, a consortium of three northeast Kansas public-radio stations of which KANU 91.5-FM is the flagship. It has five production studios, a music library and a performance hall seating 50. It was funded by donations from Hortense Oldfather, the Sunderland Foundation and the Endowment Association; von Achen Chartered Architects designed the new structure, which adjoins the Baehr Audio-Reader Center. It supersedes “the Mud Hut,” a small structure near the Art and Design Building that had been KPR’s home since going on-air in September 1952.

See also: Baehr Audio-Reader Center; Marvin Studios

See the Unions

1540 W. 15th St. 66045-7616

Named for Clarence L. Burt, a 1908 civil engineering alumnus and benefactor, the yellow-buff brick and limestone building was dedicated Oct. 6, 1962, and housed a small nuclear reactor used by the engineering, radiation and biophysics faculty for research and training. The reactor was built by Bendix Corp.; the building was paid for by federal, state and private funds. The reactor ceased operations in 1985, and in fall 1992 the site was cleaned to Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards and the license terminated. The hall now houses School of Engineering faculty offices and the Department of Environment, Health and Safety.

See also: Learned Hall; Eaton Hall