University of Denver - Campus

Campus

The heart of the campus has a number of historic buildings. The longest-standing building is University Hall, built in the Romanesque Revival style which has served DU since 1890. The cornerstone to this building is exactly one mile above sea level. Just a few blocks off campus also hosts the historic Chamberlin Observatory, built in 1894. It is still a fully operational observatory and is open to the public twice a week as well as one Saturday a month.

The central campus area also includes Evans Chapel, an 1870s-vintage small church which was once located in downtown Denver, and was relocated to the DU campus in the early 1960s. Buchtel Tower (1913) is all that remains of the former Buchtel Chapel, which burned in 1983. The administrative offices are located in the Mary Reed Building, a former library built in 1932 in the Collegiate Gothic style. Margery Reed Hall (named for the daughter of Mary Reed) was also built in the collegiate gothic style in 1929. Margery Reed Hall has recently been designated to house the Undergraduate Program for the Daniels College of Business; an 8 million dollar overhaul and renovation is currently taking place to update the building for more classroom space, a larger hall to host guest speakers, as well as mechanical and technical improvements.

Under the leadership of former Chancellor Daniel Ritchie (now Chairman of the Denver Center for Performing Arts), about $500 million in capital improvements have taken place in the last decade and the learning inside these new buildings has improved in the same period, as admissions selectivity and rankings have improved dramatically.

In autumn 2003, DU opened a new $63.5 million facility for its College of Law, what was later named the "Sturm College of Law." The building includes a three-story library with personal computers accessible to students. Donald and Susan Sturm, owners of Denver-based American National Bank, had given $20 million to the University of Denver College of Law. The gift is the largest single donation in the 112-year history of the law school and among the largest gifts ever to the university.

The Daniels College of Business was completed in September 1999 at the cost of $25 million dollars. The business school has been nationally recognized by organizations such as Forbes magazine, Business Week, and the Wall Street Journal where it is ranked second in the nation for producing students with high ethical standards.

F.W. Olin Hall was built in 1997 to house Biological and Natural Sciences. Olin Hall promotes an exceptional collaborative learning and study space for DU science students.

Additionally, the university also recently opened the $75 million Robert and Judi Newman Center for Performing Arts, which houses the acclaimed Lamont School of Music. The Center includes June Swaner Gates Concert Hall, a 1,000 seat, four-level opera house, the Frederic C. Hamilton Family Recital Hall, a 250-seat recital hall with the largest (3,000 pipes) "tracker" organ in the region, and the Elizabeth Ericksen Byron Theatre, a 300-seat flexible theatre space. The Newman Center serves as home to many professional performing arts groups from the Denver region as well as the University's Newman Center Presents multi-disciplinary performing arts series.

In the last two years, DU has also built and opened a new building for the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management (Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management). Inside the building there are numerous classrooms, a large wine cellar, meeting rooms, and an all-purpose dining room that hosts numerous city and university events, weddings, and formal parties. The school helps DU rank near the top of all hotel schools in the United States. The program had its first graduating class in 1946.

The university has the second highest telescope in the world located at 14,148 feet near the summit of Mount Evans called the Meyer-Womble Observatory. This telescope is most commonly used by the university's Natural Science and Mathematics Department, and more specifically the Department of Physics and Astronomy at DU.

Nagel Residence Hall was completed in the Fall of 2008 to house upperclassman and is one of the most unique buildings on campus, offering a wide collection of art throughout the building donated by the Nagel family. The building is certified Gold in LEED standards to be environmentally friendly and more sustainable. As well as Nagel, Nelson Hall is another LEED residence hall that was built in the last eight years.

DU completed the first ever (Peter S. Barton) lacrosse-only stadium that was specifically designed for the sport in 2005, as well as new Ciber field soccer stadium (2010) on the northern end of campus. Ciber field also contains new studio space for the School of Art adjoining the main grandstand, as well as the Pat Bowlen varsity sports weight training facility underneath the stands.

The environmentally friendly $25 million dollar Morgridge College of Education was opened in June 2010.

At the beginning of the summer of 2011, the 41-year old Penrose Library closed for a $30 million dollar plus renovation, and is slated to re-open by the Spring of 2013. Penrose Library will be transformed into an Academic Commons that will accommodate the next generation of students with high tech collaboration and study space. This will be one of the most advanced and technologically capable libraries among universities throughout the country.

The university has five residence halls, Johnson McFarlane Hall (JMac), Centennial Halls, Centennial Towers, Nelson Hall and Nagel Hall. Johnson McFarlane Hall was recently energy star certified as one of the most energy efficient buildings on campus, and is the oldest co-ed dorm in the western United States.