I ran across this neat aerial of campus in an issue of the great old magazine called the Houston Gargoyle. I’ve mentioned this publication before in conjunction with a fabulous 1932 map of Houston’s Cradle of Culture. This one is interesting to me for two reasons. First, it could not have been taken in 1929. There’s no Cohen House (1927) and no statue of Willy (1929). I’m calling it late 1925 to 1926, one of the earlier aerials of campus I’ve seen.
And second I am quite touched by the faith that whoever wrote this had in the notion that Rice would carry out “over a span of years” a plan of “harmonious building design and ground layout.” As soon as we started building again after World War II the plan flew out the window.
Bonus: Moody Center.
