The Campus of the University of Southern California, also known as the University Park Campus, is located in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The campus sprawls across 226 acres and contains most of the academic facilities and residential buildings of the University of Southern California. The University Park campus is in the University Park district of Los Angeles, 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of downtown Los Angeles. The campus's boundaries are Jefferson Boulevard on the north and northeast, Figueroa Street on the southeast, Exposition Boulevard on the south, and Vermont Avenue on the west. Since the 1960s, through-campus vehicle traffic has been either severely restricted or entirely prohibited on some thoroughfares. The University Park campus is within walking distance to Los Angeles landmarks such as the Shrine Auditorium and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which is operated and managed by the University. Most buildings are in the Romanesque Revival style, although some dormitories, engineering buildings, and physical sciences labs are of various Modernist styles (especially two large Brutalist dormitories at the campus's northern edge) that sharply contrast with the predominantly red-brick campus. Widney Alumni House, built-in 1880, is the oldest university building in Southern California. In recent years the campus has been renovated to remove the vestiges of old roads and replace them with traditional university quads and gardens. The historic portion of the main campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
Campus History Early Development (1880–1919)
The University of Southern California was originally situated at the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Hoover Street and contained eight acres. At this time, the land on which the campus was situated consisted primarily of various farmlands. Its original campus was founded on 308 lots of land donated by Ozro Childs, John Gately Downey, and Isaias W. Hellman and contained a rag-tag group of academic buildings. Its first building, the Widney Alumni House, still remains in continuous use, and stands as the oldest university building in Southern California. It is registered as a California Historical Landmark (No. 546) as the Original Building of the University of Southern California. Originally, this building contained all of the university's functions, including its first library. In 1884, the College of Liberal Arts building was constructed to house the expanding student body and additional academic facilities. This building, colloquially referred to as "Old College," would be demolished in 1948. Around this time, the Los Angeles Electric Railway constructed its University Line, which further spurred growth in the region.
In 1885, the College of Medicine was founded, and accordingly the Founders Building of the University of Southern California College of Medicine was constructed. In 1906, the Barlow Medical Library, designed by Robert D. Farquhar, was constructed opposite to the Founders Building to supplement the College of Medicine. In 1901, the College of Fine Arts was founded, and a building was constructed to house this new program as well as its students. This building would be destroyed in a fire in 1910. In 1911, a new building, designed by Robert Train and Robert E. Williams was built in the shingle style. USC would vacate this building in 1920, but the building would later become listed on the Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument list (No. 62) as well as added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1905, the College of Liberal Arts building was expanded with the addition of two new wings to house the University's first proper library. In 1907, the Chemistry building was completed. In 1916, additional land was purchased by the University in preparation for future campus expansions.
Additional to the construction activities, the University also acquired a multitude of formerly residential buildings in the surrounding neighborhoods. Some of these buildings include the Freshman Writing House, the Joint Educational Project House, and the Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Family House.
First Masterplan (1920–1945) Throughout this time, the University saw rapid growth in its enrollment numbers and administration decided that a cohesive plan for projected expansion was required. In 1919, John Parkinson was commissioned by the University to design a masterplan for the expansion of the University. Parkinson's campus was centered around what was then University Avenue (now Trousdale Parkway), and heavily employed the Romanesque Revival style of architecture, using red brick and cream-colored limestone, which remains prominent on the campus still today. Accordingly, this period saw an aggressive boom in campus construction activity, including some of the most iconic buildings today and form much of the campus's historic core. In 1919, the Bovard administrative building was completed, which housed much of the University's administrative activities. In 1925, the building for the Law School was completed. Additionally nearby in Expo Park, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was completed in 1923. USC would play Pomona in the inaugural game. In 1927 the Student Union building was completed alongside Bridge Hall.
In addition to the Parkinsons, many other notable local architects also contributed to the expansion of the campus during this time. In 1929, the Ralph C. Flewelling-designed Mudd Hall was completed as the Seely W. Mudd Memorial Hall of Philosophy. This building stood as the tallest on campus until the completion of the Von Kleinsmid Center in 1966. In 1930, the famous shrine of Tommy Trojan, sculpted by Roger Noble Burnham, was unveiled outside of Bovard. The Methodist Episcopal University Church, designed by C. Raimond Johnson, was completed in 1931. In 1932, Doheny Memorial Library, designed by Ralph Adams Cram, was completed. The courtyard created between Doheny and Bovard formed the centerpiece of Parkinson's campus, and features an expansive park lined with sycamore trees, pedestrian paths, and a central fountain.
A second wave of construction commenced just prior to World War II, resulting in the construction of four notable buildings. In 1939, the Harris Hall of Architecture and Fine Arts, also designed by Flewelling, and the Fisher Gallery were completed. In 1940, the Biegler Hall of Engineering was completed. The Allan Hancock Foundation building was completed in 1941 and now houses the Hancock Memorial Museum. While these buildings still by-and-large followed the Romanesque styling found elsewhere on campus, they also began to incorporate elements of more contemporary styles such as those employed by the Public Works Administration. During World War II, a hiatus on large-scale campus construction was observed as the University focused more on constructing temporary barracks for military personnel.
In 1950, Founders Hall is completed alongside the Commons.
Second Masterplan (1946–1959) As World War II drew to a close, it became apparent to University administration that a new masterplan was necessary for transitioning the University for the post-war era. Key objectives of this new plan were to absorb the exploding student population as well as update the current campus. Accordingly, President Rufus B. von KleinSmid commissioned architects Henry C. Burge, Arthur B. Gallion, and C. Raimond Johnson to design a new masterplan for geographic expansion and campus construction. The philosophy of this plan greatly diverged from that of the Pinkerson plan. Whereas the previous plan placed great rigidity on the architectural styles of the buildings as well as how buildings would be apportioned between departments, this new masterplan placed emphasis on flexibility, choosing not to specify any architectural style to be used or how departments were to share spaces. Rather, it offered more generalized recommendations on where certain facilities should be located and recommended an adherence to the red brick aesthetic established per the Pinkerson plan. It was through this plan that the clear boundaries of the campus began to become realized: Exposition Boulevard, Figueroa Street, Jefferson Boulevard, and McClintock Avenue. Additionally, this plan proposed using portions of the land within these campus boundaries for surface parking lots as well as closed the internal campus street network to traffic. Whereas the previous plan was automobile-oriented, this new one placed emphasis on the pedestrian. Traffic through Trousdale Parkway was formally closed in 1953.
The architectural styling of this period also sharply departed from the previous plan, notably abandoning the revivalist styles of yore for more the modernist styling of the time. These buildings greatly employed red brick and concrete to afford some semblance of cohesion amongst them. Some of the first buildings built during this period include Mark Taper Hall, designed by Marsh, Smith, and Powell, and the Elizabeth Von KleinSmid Memorial Residence, designed by Samuel E. London. Both were completed in 1950 in the International Style. Additionally, this period saw the rise of numerous Neo-Formalist buildings as well.
Third Masterplan (1960–1976) Despite the implementation of the Gallion plan, the growing population could not adequately be contained. Accordingly, in 1960, President Norman Topping commissioned William L. Pereira to design another masterplan with an express focus on accommodating growth in enrollment and increase in research activity. Specifically, this plan set out to create housing villages, separate academic and non-academic facilities, establish a campus heart, and develop architecturally unique quadrangles. While Pereira drew inspiration for these quadrangles from Oxford, Cambridge, and Yale, the purpose of USC's quadrangles differ in that they were designed to create memorable public places, thereby creating a "sense of space," instead of solely community making. Specifically, each quadrangle was to contain a "jewel" which was to be a focal point. Moreover, this plan would expand the western boundary of the University to Vermont Avenue, adding 58 acres to the campus; the move resulted in the removal and leveling of several residential blocks. During this time, the campus was entirely shut off from external automobile traffic.
This period saw a dramatic rise in construction, with more than twenty completed in the 1960s and thirty more after 1970. These include the Ahmanson Center, Olin Hall, Stauffer Hall, Vivian Hall of Engineering, Booth Ferris Rehearsal Hall. Additionally, A. Quincy Jones designed the Annenberg School of Communications, Edward Durell Stone designed the Von KleinSmid Center and the Andrus Gerontology Center amongst others, and the Watt Hall of Architecture and Fine Arts, designed by Killingsworth, Brady, and Associates.
During this period, the campus also underwent certain redevelopments in preparation for the 1984 Olympic Games.
Infill Development (1977–2011)