EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTIONS
Rice
University is Houston's most architecturally distinguished place of learning.
Spanish eclectic in style, the buildings are surrounded by formal gardens. The
300-acre landscaped campus, with red roofed buildings and courts surrounded by oak and
cypress trees, is located in the South Main area. Modeled after the collegiate
system of old English universities, Rice attracted a range of scholars, among them Julian
Huxley, the noted biologist and evolution theorist, who taught at Rice in 1913. The
original building, Lovett Hall (now the administration building), reflects old world charm
in its Mediterranean lines. In the center of the Quadrangle, which Lovett Hall looks
upon, is the statue of William Marsh Rice. Rice's ashes are buried at the base of
the statue.
The
University of Houston, the largest university in the city, is built on 330 acres south of
the Gulf Freeway. It started as a junior college of the Houston Independent School
District in 1927 and achieved university status in 1934. Local Houston
philanthropists have aided the growth of the university. The names of its schools
and buildings--the Cullen School of Engineering, the Nina Cullinan Hall, the Hilton School
of Hotel Management and the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library--indicate the sources of
generous gifts. The eight story General Classroom Building stands in an ornamental
sunken garden. The University of Houston's downtown college is housed in the old
Merchant and Manufactures Building (the M & M Building), designed by Giesecke and
Harris. The ten story structure, dedicated in 1930, was patterned after a similar
Chicago building of the 1920's.
Texas
Southern University is located on 58 acres at Wheeler Street. The archives of the
old Negro College for Men, which it succeeded, are in the vaults of the college
library. Former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan is an alumna of the school.
