Opened in 1955 as a women's residence hall, GSP is named for Gertrude Sellards Pearson, a 1901 alumna who with her husband, Joseph R. Pearson, in 1945 donated money to supplement the construction of five residence and scholarship halls. GSP is now a coed hall.

The other residences are Grace Pearson Hall and Pearson Hall, both men's scholarship halls; Sellards Hall, a women's scholarship hall; and Joseph R. Pearson Hall, now home of the School of Education & Human Sciences.

This building of cottonwood and silverdale limestone opened March 6, 1967. It sits on the second-highest point on Mount Oread — 1,031 feet — and is visible for miles. (The highest point is 1,037 feet, between Joseph R.

This redbrick building was originally the Frank C. Foley Geohydrology Center, an annex of the Kansas Geological Survey named for its director from 1954-70. It opened in spring 1980, and in 1989 the survey moved its office into Parker Hall. The Kansas Biological Survey was housed here from 1989 to 2003; Foley now houses Monarch Watch, which monitors the migrations and habitats of monarch butterflies and which was founded by Orley “Chip” Taylor, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology.

Main building

1503 Sunflower Road 66045

2 floors, basement, sub-basement



Power plant 

1505 Sunflower Road

2 floors, basement



Chiller building

1515 Facilities Operations Drive

2 floors



The limestone main building was designed by Superintendent E.F. Crocker and constructed by the Buildings & Grounds Department in 1906. A second story and entry were added in 1926.

This building incorporates a high bay facility for research, testing and developing large structural systems such as concrete piers or steel girder connections for bridges; and a student projects fabrication center for design competition teams and students in capstone design courses.

Faculty and students in several School of Engineering departments use the 24,700-square-foot building, completed in summer 2014.

Built in 1963 as a men’s hall, it is named for Fred Ellsworth, a 1922 journalism alumnus who from 1924 to 1963 was secretary of the Alumni Association and editor of its Graduate Magazine. Remodeled in 2002-03, it houses men and women in two-person rooms, suites and studios.

Opened in 1983 and known as “Mrs. E’s,” it was named in 1993 for Lenoir D. Ekdahl, director of residence-hall food service for 35 years before her retirement in 1989.

The three-level dining center for the 3,300 students in Daisy Hill residence halls adjoins Lewis Residence Hall; it features food-court style service and seats about 700 diners.

This building in the engineering complex was dedicated Oct. 17, 2003, and named for major donor Robert J. Eaton, a 1963 alumnus and retired chair of DaimlerChrysler AG.

Eaton donated $5 million for the project, about one-third of the cost of the 80,000-square-foot hall, which was funded entirely through private donations. It was designed by Gould Evans Associates of Lawrence and is connected by an enclosed walkway to Learned Hall.

The Earth, Energy & Environment Center opened in January 2018. The 141,000-square-foot interdisciplinary center designed by Gould Evans of Lawrence has auditoriums, classrooms, laboratories, and multipurpose spaces designed to foster collaboration among researchers, scientists, and students in geology, chemical and petroleum engineering, geophysics, energy, nanotechnology, and the environment.

One of KU’s signature buildings, Dyche Hall was built as the Museum of Natural History in 1901-02 to a design by Kansas City architects Walter C. Root and George W. Siemens; they used the Venetian Romanesque style characteristic of southern European churches of 1050-1200.