“Rice Builds,” Homecoming 1947

The post-World War II years saw an explosion of growth and change at Rice. New buildings went up, new curricula were instituted, new entrance requirements were adopted. After decades of stagnation, it all happened very fast. As soon as 1947 Homecoming had become what it is now–a time to explain all that change to returning alumni:

Bonus: And yet the comfort of tradition remains.

This one seems to have just given up and laid down. (Thanks to several alert readers who sent pictures of this most recent carnage!)

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11 Responses to “Rice Builds,” Homecoming 1947

  1. grungy1973 says:

    The list thus far. More research to come, and assistance from anyone accepted.
    I fully expect WordPress to completely mangle the formatting, and I gave up on moving the years to the right, and on the other two columns (year demolished, president at time of opening)

    Name Year Built

    Lovett Hall 1912
    Will Rice College Old Dorm (South Hall) 1912
    Mech Lab and Central Plant (Power House) 1912
    Baker College Commons (Central Dining Hall). 1912
    Harris Gully Footbridge 1912
    Rice Field (old Rice Stadium) 1913
    Railroad spur 1913
    Herzstein Hall (Phyics) 1914
    Baker College Old Wing (East Hall) 1914
    Chemistry Annex 1915
    Hanszen College Old Section (West Hall) 1916
    Wiess (President’s) House 1920
    Rice Field House 1920
    Keck Hall (Chemistry) 1925
    Cohen House 1927
    Engineering Annex (formerly Chemistry Annex) 1928
    Cohen House kitchen addition 1929
    Rice Stadium (old Rice Field south brick edifice 1938
    the turnstile 1938
    Navy ROTC 1941
    Anderson Hall 1947
    Abercrombie Engineering Laboratory 1948
    Original Wiess College (North Hall) 1949
    Fondren Library 1949
    Huff House (O’Connor House 1949
    Historic Rice Stadium 1950
    Tudor Field House (Rice Gymnasium) 1950
    Army ROTC Building 1951
    Bonner Nuclear Laboratories 1953
    Baker College – New Wing 1957
    Hanszen College – New Section 1957
    Will Rice College – New Dorm 1957
    Baker College Master House 1957
    Will Rice College Master House 1957
    Wiess College Master House 1957
    Hanszen College Master House 1957
    Jones College – North and South 1957
    Jones College Master House 1957
    Baker College Entrances 1957
    Rice Memorial Center 1958
    Anderson Biological Laboratories 1958
    Kieth-Wiess Geological Laboratories 1958
    Hamman Hall 1958
    Cohen House dining room additon and kitchen extension 1959
    Cohen House garden – fountain and wall 1960
    Rayzor Hall 1962
    F&E buildings along Sunset 1964
    Addition to old Wiess 1964
    Brown College (The Tower) 1965
    Brown College Master House 1965
    Rice Health Center (Brown College Commons) 1965
    Ryon Engineering Laboratory 1965
    Central Kitchen (OEDK) 1965
    Space Science and Technology Building 1966
    Ley Track and Holloway Field 1966
    Allen Center 1967
    Herman Brown Hall for Mathematical Sciences 1968
    Lovett College 1968
    Fondren Graduate Research Wing 1969
    Sid Richardson College 1970
    Rice Media Center 1970
    Martel Center (Art Barn, next to Media Center) 1970
    Jake Hess Tennis Stadium 1970
    Sewall Hall 1971
    The R-Room 1972
    East and West Practice Gyms 1979
    Anderson Hall extension 1981
    Seeley G. Mudd Computer Science Laboratory 1983
    GradLands (Tidelands Motor Inn) 1983
    Herring Hall 1984
    Cox Mechanical Engineering Building 1985
    Ley Student Center 1986
    Allen Center Fourth Floor 1987
    Rice University Police Department 1987
    Alice Pratt Brown Hall 1991
    George R. Brown Hall 1991
    Cohen House office wing 1994
    John L. Cox Fitness Center (original) 1995
    Anne and Charles Duncan Hall 1996
    James A. III Baker Hall 1997
    Dell Butcher Hall (now Keck Hall) 1997
    F&E Shop 1998
    Rice Graduate Apartments 1999
    Humanities Building 2000
    Humanities Building 2000
    Reckling Park at Cameron Field 2000
    Morningside Square Apartments 2001
    Martel College 2002
    McNair Hall 2002
    Brown College – The Quads and College Commons 2002
    Jones College – Central 2002
    Jones College – Master House 2002
    Jones College Commons 2002
    North Servery 2002
    Wiess College 2002
    South Servery Complex 2002
    5620 Greenbriar Building 2003
    Library Service Center (off-campus high-density storage) 2004
    Jess Neely and Joe Davis Scoreboard 2006
    Brochstein Pavilion 2008
    Rice Children’s Campus 2008
    Youngkin Center (and extensive renovation of gym) 2008
    Rice Village Apartments 2008
    Duncan College 2009
    McMurtry College 2009
    BioSciences Research Collaborative 2009
    West Servery 2009
    Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center 2009
    South Plant 2009
    Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen 2009
    Lovett College – Baker Wing 2010
    Abe and Annie Seibel Servery 2010
    Baker College – New New Wing 2010
    Will Rice College – Newer Dorm 2010
    Rice Village Apartments 2010
    Brockman Hall for Physics 2011
    Wilson House (new Wiess Master House) 2011
    Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion 2012
    Anderson-Clarke Center for Continuing Studies 2014
    George R. Brown Tennis Center 2014
    Brian Patterson Sports Performance Center 2016
    Wendel D. Ley Track & Holloway Field 2016
    Moody Center for the Arts 2017
    Cambridge Office Building 2018
    Cambridge Parking Structure 2018
    Social Sciences Building 2019
    Music and Performing Arts Center (opera house) 2020
    extension of the HRS dressing rooms
    Data Center (south somewhere)
    Tennis Courts (next to Wiess)
    Student Tennis Courts (where McMurtry is now)
    old baseball field (next to old Wiess, behind those tennis courts)
    FE&P Training Center
    NROTC firing range
    Handball Court
    HRS storage on east side concourse
    car wash rack
    new SRC
    new SRC magister house
    new WRC magister house
    original baseball field (where track stadium is now)
    Rose Garden

    • Francis Eugene "Gene" Pratt, Rice Institute 1956 says:

      Thanks, Grungy.
      I’ve been wondering for years if some of those additions were there in my time and I hadn’t noticed them.

    • loki_the_bubba says:

      There was also a building (more of a shack really, with a front porch) over near the track stadium. It served as the Rice recycling center. We’d go over there and break up glass into large barrels to be loaded into the back of a beat up old pick-up (3 on the tree). We would take the glass over to the east side at Anchor Glass to sell. No idea when the shack was built or torn down but it was there in the late 70s and early 80s. I’ve never been able to pin-point it in any of Melissa’s photo postings.

    • Brian Cole (Weiss '78) says:

      Your listing of the Weiss House (now the President’s residence) raises an interesting question: How to account for buildings that were not part of the Institute/University at the time of construction, but later came to be owned by the school?
      With respect to Tidelands (was it not originally the “Tides II”?), you seem to handle that by listing the date that the property became part of the school (or was remodeled as part of the acquisition–I’m not sure of the dates of each).

  2. James Medford says:

    Additions:
    Baker College Commons (Central Dining Hall) expansion in 1938. (Per Stephen Fox’s Campus Guide)
    In 1957, Hanszen, Will Rice, Jones, and Wiess Colleges each had a Commons building built. The Wiess Commons was remodeled in 1975. The Hanszen Commons was destroyed in a fire in 1975, and replaced by the second commons in 1976. The second Hanszen Commons was torn down in 2001 and replaced by the third Hanszen Commons and South Servery in 2002. (All of this per Stephen Fox’s Campus Guide.)

    • grungy1973 says:

      Excellent!
      I’ll point out that Jones itself was built in ’57, with the included commons.

      We’re going to have to draw the line somewhere for inclusions to this list, and if we include all remodels it’s going to become quite cumbersome. I propose setting the inclusion threshold at “changes to footprint (area)”. Did the remodeling of Wiess Commons in ’75 change the included area? I just don’t know, and I have yet to look at the Fox guide.
      The destruction of Hanszen Commons by fire and subsequent rebuild, even if it didn’t change the area, seems worthy of inclusion.
      I welcome comments on these factors as well.

      • James Medford says:

        The Fox guide doesn’t say whether the Wiess Commons remodel changed the footprint. You’d probably have to ask someone who was there at the time.

      • I was thinking about footprint. There could be a graph of total square feet for Rice year by year, along with lines for square feet added or demolished that year. 1957 would show a massive jump.

      • Kermit Lancaster, Wiess 1977 says:

        Regarding the Wiess Commons remodeling. Yes, it almost doubled the floor space by expanding to the interior side, one next to the residential rooms. That new wall was mostly window, making the commons brighter and more welcoming. Another neat feature was a sort of mezzanine walkway running the length of the commons to a projector room at the end. We had a foosball table up there. Also great for lights for WTT.

  3. Karen says:

    The comments on this past posting said the footprint was changed, and describes the change:
    https://ricehistorycorner.com/2016/03/07/barbara-jordan-1977/

    It was before my time, but I remember when I read that comment, that it made sense based on what I remember of Weiss Commons.

  4. grungy1973 says:

    In the past week we’ve narrowed one thing down fairly well – the windowless building on the west side of the locker room complex on the south end of HRS was a weight room.
    I found a photo showing the ground preparations for it in the online Thresher archives, from Spring ’84. The caption said that it should be complete in Fall ’84.
    However, we also have a report from that era’s strength and conditioning coach, Keith Irwin, who says that it opened in Spring ’86. I do not doubt him, but I’d like to find the reason for the disparity in the years.

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