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Resources for the Iowa State University Campus and Buildings
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF IOWA STATE'S
CAMPUS BUILDINGS
Introduction & Bibliography by Tanya Zanish-Belcher (archives@iastate.edu)
Since the founding of Iowa State University in 1858, its
campus and landscape have changed in innumerable ways. Benjamin Gue, state legislator, in
his speech at the inauguration of first President Adonijah Welch, noted that its location
was once, "a monotonous plain of waving grass only broken here and there by scattered
groves." From this prairie beginning, Iowa State University’s campus has grown
to encompass approximately 140 buildings and landscaping of national renown.
Early campus maps from
1875 and
1898 illustrate the rapid growth of the campus. The
original campus consisted of 14 buildings including several barns, Old Main (which later
burned at the turn of the century) and the oldest building still on campus, the Farm House
(built in 1860). The 1898 map shows 52 buildings, including several buildings still
existing, such as the Hub, Morrill Hall, Sloss House, the Campanile, the English Office
Building, and Lab of Mechanics.
The 20th century campus also witnessed growth, from 85 buildings in 1915, to
105 in 1930, and 135 in 1979 as well as the addition of numerous works of art. Throughout
its history of growth however, the campus also lost numerous buildings to fire and the
wrecking ball, such as the Chemistry Building, Margaret Hall, Old Main, the original
Veterinary Hospital; Clyde Williams Stadium, and numerous barns, cottages, and temporary
buildings. Iowa State continues to expand in the 21st century, with the
construction of Howe Hall, the Honors Building, and the 4-H Building. The central campus
remains the same however, a green park-like space filled with students, faculty, staff,
and visitors, listening to the bells of the Campanile ring over the green hills of Iowa
State.
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Map,
1868
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Map,
1883
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Map,
1891 |
CAMPUS PLANNING & LANDSCAPE DESIGN AT IOWA STATE
UNIVERSITY
The original vision of the Iowa State campus having an open
central campus with a road encircling the buildings was the vision of its first President,
Adonijah Welch. Faculty also planned the early landscaping with students maintaining and
working with the plants. Peter Melendy, Superintendent in 1865, wrote in the Sixth Annual
Report:
"There have been several hundred ornamental and shade trees, and shrubbery, set
out. I deemed it essential to make an ample lawn, with here and there a tree, with shrubs
for fragrance, and evergreens to relieve the golden of the summer day; with bordered walks
and quiet nooks, the embowering shade of trees, with beautiful trailing vines, and shrubs,
and flowers…By the judicious employment of trees we may effect almost any amount of
alteration and improvement within the scope of landscape scenery…
Plant trees most certainly, and wherever they would be a beauty of a refreshment, let
their roots being to pierce the mould above which their branches may year after year wave
with a fascinating grace and a variety – like which there is nothing else in
nature."
In the first years of the 20th century, the college relied on outside
recommendations, made by O.C. Simonds (1902-1903) and the Olmsted Brothers (1906). But the
majority of planning and landscaping (1920s-1960s), was conducted by the Heads of
Architectural Engineering and Landscape Architecture, with representation from the faculty
on the Public Grounds Committee as well as the University President. In the 1960s, a
University Architect was appointed, who was and is under the auspices of Facilities
Planning and Management.
AWARDS FOR THE ISU CAMPUS
Thomas Gaines, in The Campus As a Work of Art
(1991), proclaimed the Iowa State campus to be one of the twenty-five most beautiful
campuses in the country. Gaines noted the park-like expanse of central campus, and the use
of trees and shrubbery to draw together Iowa State’s varied building architecture.
In 1999 a national landscape architects’ group selected Iowa State’s central
campus as a "medallion" site. The park-like central lawn was among three central
campuses selected for special recognition by the American Society of Landscape Architects
(ASLA).
To commemorate its centennial, the ASLA selected more than 300 significant landscapes
across the country as medallion sites. Thirteen sites were on college campuses, but only
three are central campus sites–Yale University, the University of Virginia, and Iowa
State.
"The sites were selected because they represent places that were to the heart and
soul--places landscape architecture had something to do with making them what they
are," Dunbar said.
Iowa State’s central campus includes 490 acres of trees, plants, and classically
designed buildings. The landscape’s most dominant feature is the 20-acre central
lawn. Over decades, campus buildings, including the Campanile, Beardshear Hall, and
Curtiss Hall, circled and preserved the central lawn, creating a space where students
study, relax, and socialize. "The grandness of its space created by structures,
places, and plant material has been a special place for Iowa State students," Dunbar
said.
Bibliography
Au, King. Interpretations of the interpretations: photographic explorations by King
Au of Iowa State University’s Art on Campus Collection. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State
University, 1995. (Call Number: TR647 .A9 1995) Location: Special Collections
Bliss, Patricia Lounsbury. Christian Petersen, sculptor, 1885-1961: an illustrated
guide to his works in the Ames-Gilbert vicinity, on the Iowa State University campus, and
in the state of Iowa. Bettendorf, Iowa: Pegasus Productions, 1986. (Call Number:
NB237.P4 A4 1986) Location: Design; Special Collections; General Collection
Daily, Laura C. Green hills: an album of Iowa State memories. Ames, Iowa: Alumni
Association, Iowa State University, 1975. (Call Number: LD2544.5 D35x) Location:
Special Collections; Veterinary Medicine
*Day, H. Summerfield. The Iowa State University campus and its buildings, 1859-1979.
Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University, 1980. (Call Number: LD2534.I6 D39x)
Locations: Design Permanent Reserve; Special Collections; General Collection; Reference
Collection
Gaines, Thomas A. The campus as a work of art. New York : Praeger, 1991. (Call
Number: LB3223.3 .G35 1991) Locations: Design; Special Collections; General Collection
Guide to art on campus. Ames, Iowa: University Museums, Iowa State University,
1993. (Call Number: N512.A56 A85x 1993) Location: Reference Collection
Rayness, Velma Wallace. Campus Sketches of Iowa State University. Ames, Iowa:
Iowa State University Press, 1962. (Call Number: LD2544.5 R21c2) Location: Special
Collections; General Collection
Scenes of Iowa State. Ames, Iowa: Alumni Association, Iowa State University,
1979. (Call Number: LD2544.5 S34x 1979) Location: Special Collections
Available online:
From Prairie Sod to Campus Cornerstones: Building Our
Campus History
Alumni Hall
| Armory |
Beardshear
Hall | Carver Hall |
Catt
Hall | Curtiss Hall |
Dinkey
E.O. Building
| Farm HouseGilman Hall | The Hub
Iowa State Center (C.Y. Stephens Auditorium)
| Lab of Mechanics |
Landscape Architecture
Library | MacKay Hall
| Margaret Hall |
Marston Hall | Memorial
Union | Morrill Hall
The Maples |
(Old Music Hall) |
Osborn Cottage |
Old
Main | Sloss House | South Hall
| State Gym |
Water
Tower
Day, H. Summerfield. The Iowa State University campus and its buildings, 1859-1979.
Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University, 1980.
Reed, Colleen.
Trees of
Central Campus.
Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Botany Club,1972.
For Whom It Is Named: Names of
Halls, Buildings, Streets, Residence Hall Houses and Other Facilities at
Iowa State University
Buildings
Campus Streets
Residence Halls
LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
To learn more about the Iowa State University Campus,
please check the following websites, archival collections (located in Special Collections,
ISU Library) and secondary sources (call numbers and locations noted).
Buildings and
Grounds Division Collection ,
located in the University Archives
Department
of Residence Buildings Collection, located in the University
Archives
Celebrating 100 Years: Iowa State's Campanile
(Virtual Exhibit)
Morrill Hall: The Jewel of Iowa State University
(Virtual Exhibit)
Facilities Planning and
Management--Current Campus Floor Plans
Additional Websites
Historic Barns of Iowa
State
Campus Art
Campus Trees and Shrubs
Facilties Planning and Management--Campus Building Drawings
Farm House
Maps of the Current Iowa State University Campus
Archival Collections Relating to the ISU Campus: University Archives (Special
Collections)
Campus art records, 1924-[ongoing]
University Archives (Special Collections)
Call Number: RS 04/08/05
Facilities Planning and Management. Buildings and Grounds.
Field books, 1875-1923
University Archives (Special Collections)
Call Number: RS 04/08/06
Facilities Planning and Management. Buildings and Grounds.
Records, 1850-[ongoing]
University Archives (Special Collections)
Call Number: RS 04/08/04
Photograph collection—campus buildings, 1870-[ongoing]
University Archives (Special Collections)
Call Number: RS 04/08
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