Places Directory
This directory provides the proper names of Lawrence campus buildings, landmarks, and notable spaces — as well as the history behind them. If you spot an error or an oversight, please email debg@ku.edu.
Stephenson Scholarship Hall
Opened in fall 1951, the hall houses men in two-person suites. Designed by Raymond Coolidge, it was partly funded by Mrs. Lyle Stephenson in memory of her husband, a Kansas City insurance salesman and amateur entomologist.
Stouffer Place Apartments
Stouffer Place Apartments, opened in fall 2018 as part of the Central District development, comprises two buildings designed by Treanor Architects of Lawrence.
Sudler Annex
This building was originally the garage of the home bequeathed to KU by the estate of Dr. Mervin T. Sudler (1874-1956), Lawrence physician, professor of anatomy, and dean of the Medical School 1921-24.
Sunflower Apartments
These 19 two-bedroom units provide one-year housing for new faculty, unclassified staff, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scholars. The brick duplexes were built in 1955.
Tai Chi Figure
This large piece, on the east lawn of Green Hall, was purchased by the Spencer Museum in 1987 with support from the Wescoe Fund, endowed by former Chancellor and Mrs. W. Clarke Wescoe.
Templin Residence Hall
This seven-story residence hall, opened in 1959, was extensively remodeled in 1997 into single, two- and four-person suites for men and women.
The Owl
The inscription on the Spooner Hall portico reads: “Whoso findeth wisdom findeth life,” and a sandstone owl, the symbol of wisdom, sits in a niche on the gable.
The Pioneer
The first sculpture on campus, The Pioneer was a 1905 gift of Simeon B. Bell of Wyandotte County, Kan., a physician and real-estate speculator.
The Victory Eagle
To honor World War I casualties, the Victory Highway Association began a campaign in 1921 to set a statue of a female bald eagle defending her eaglets at every county line along U.S. 40, then a transcontinental highway.
Twente Hall
Originally Watkins Memorial Hospital, the building opened in January 1932. It was funded by Elizabeth Miller Watkins, a doctor’s daughter and widow of Lawrence banker/financier Jabez B. Watkins, for whom it was named.
University Guest House
This small house on the grounds of the chancellor’s residence, also known as the Rock Cottage, was built in the 1930s of stone left from construction of a retaining wall on the property.
University Press
The University Press of Kansas, which publishes scholarly books for the state regents institutions, other universities, and scholars, dedicated this building in the West District Oct. 11, 1991.
University Press Warehouse
The one-floor press warehouse, which has 7,000 square feet, adjoins the Public Safety Building, southeast of the University Press.
University Seal
The Class of 1997 gave this reproduction of the University Seal depicting Moses kneeling before the burning bush. The image is surrounded by a Latin inscription that in English means, “I will see this great vision in which the bush does not burn.”
