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.
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in chemistry and pharmacy that made the 1883 Chemistry Hall (“the Shack”), also designed by Haskell, too small and outdated.
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 Battenfeld, 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.
Gould Evans Associates of Lawrence designed this two-story, 20,000-square-foot building northwest of the School of Pharmacy on Becker Drive in west campus, and construction began in fall 2009. The $7.25-million building houses laboratories and office space for start-up companies, emerging technology businesses, and collaborations involving KU researchers and large technology firms.
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 man with a vivacious personality, Blake was also a noted scientist in electricity, thermodynamics and X-rays.
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.
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.
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 redbrick building in west campus, designed by George Beal, in 1966. The research laboratory and herbarium are affiliated with the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute.
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.
Named for Gene A. Budig, chancellor 1981-94, and dedicated Oct. 31, 1997, it replaced the building that was designed in the Collegiate Gothic style by State Architect Charles D. Cuthbert and that opened as University Auditorium in 1927; it was named in 1938 for former Kansas Gov. Edward W. Hoch (1905-09).
Burge Union, opened in 1979 and named for Frank Burge, longtime director of the Memorial Unions, will close in March 2016 and be razed and rebuilt using mostly funds from student fees. Plans are being finalized, but the new building should be about 33,500 square feet and have 1.5 stories and a basement. It is one of several projects planned for the west side of the Central District; others are a new residence hall, students apartments, utility plant, parking garage, and an integrated science building.
