The University of Florida Historic District comprises nineteen academic buildings and dormitories all located on the main campus of the state's largest university. The Collegiate Gothic style of these buildings, rooted in the ideal of medieval English universities, was meant to suggest ancient traditions of learning and the permanence of the institution. The two-and three-story red brick buildings are embellished with cast stone of fine workmanship and have steeply pitched red tile roofs. Particularly noteworthy are the intricate Gothic tracery, gargoyles and medallions, the fan-vaulted ceilings in archways and the bay and oriole windows found in many of the buildings. The harmony and dignity of the nineteen buildings constructed before 1939 blend well with the twelve newer red brick buildings within the district.
From 1905 to 1925 William A. Edwards was the architect and designer of the specialized and multi-purpose buildings. His original 1905 campus plan included over forty proposed buildings and indicated areas assigned to housing, teaching and recreation, while the curved campus roads intentionally differed from the grid pattern of Gainesville streets. The first two buildings, Thomas and Buckman Halls, were completed in 1906 to serve a student body of only a hundred. Between 1909 and 1914 Edwards completed eight more large masonry buildings. Most of the construction in these early days was funded by state appropriations, but in 1919 the city, responding to a plea from President Murphree, helped pay for the completion of a new sports facility (now the Women's Gymnasium). The statewide land boom collapse in the 1920s thwarted ambitious plans for a new administration complex, and Edwards designed his last University building, the new library, in 1925. All his campus designs emulated those of such prestigious institutions as Yale and Princeton and sought to provide a scholarly environment separated from the outside world.
In 1925 Rudolph Weaver, the first Dean of the College of Architecture, succeeded Edwards as architect. He continued the use of Collegiate Gothic and proved to be a skilled and creative interpreter of the style, with eight of his buildings now listed on the National Register. In 1930 he revised the original campus plan to coordinate motor traffic with the city streets bordering the campus.
Landscaping for the campus began in 1905 with a row of oak trees and a sensitive use of live oak, dogwood and holly helped integrate the various buildings into a unified visual scheme. When the central green of the campus was dedicated as the Plaza of the Americas in the 1930s, the University was noted for its towering pines, stately oaks, palms and shrubs of all types.
The location of the University west of the center of Gainesville was responsible for the westward growth of the city. When University Avenue was paved, it soon became a commercial corridor and developers began to advertise home sites in new subdivisions like University Terrace, University Place and College Park, all close to the campus. Now the once rural site stands near the center of Gainesville proper.
In 1989 the central campus area was placed on the NATIONAL REGISTER, adding eight more buildings to the register listing.
After the establishment of the University of Florida in 1905, the Collegiate Gothic style of its buildings greatly influenced the eleven subdivisions which grew up around the University. These subdivisions embodied the same intentions of quality, formality and European association found in the campus buildings. All these developments have related features: they are situated close to the University; their names and plan identify them with the campus; their scale is small, usually single family residences; and finally, they reflect a variety of architectural styles from the 1910s to the 1940s, including period homes, bungalows and suburban "dream houses."
Platted in 1907, College Park is the oldest of these subdivisions. Most of its earlier homes have been destroyed by commercial strip development or adapted for University use, like the University Press building at 15 NW 15th Street which is housed in a two-story brick Georgian Revival home. Of particular note are the group of Stringfellow homes constructed in the 1930s. Built of brick veneer, these homes, like the ones at 1714 1726 Northwest 3rd Place, clearly echo the campus style. Just prior to World War II M.M. Parrish built some thirty to forty homes near the J.J. Finley School. The Howard Bishop house at 1815 Northwest 7th Avenue, though constructed of brick, typifies these houses. With the expansion of the University after World War II many older homes in the area were sold to developers and rented to students. Cheap rents and absentee landlords caused neglect and deterioration. In addition student parking threatened to make the neighborhood a commuter parking lot. During the late 1970s the residents organized a neighborhood associa-tion to protect their homes. They fought successfully against plans for a fire station and a high rise apartment complex and made the city institute a decal parking sys-tem to clear the streets. They argued for more realistic zoning and have conducted their own study on how to redesign and redevelop the area as a residential community in the midst of urban and University growth. Later, subdivisions like University Park (1909), University Heights (1912), and University Terrace (1914) were developed. These were noted for their careful design, artful landscaping, street ornaments and general picturesque effect. Good examples of Colonial, Tudor and Mediterranean styles, along with French and English Provincial homes, line the streets of University Parkand and University Heights. The residence at 1028 Southwest 3rd Avenue is a characteristic reproduction of a Colonial Williamsburg home. A good representation of the Mediterranean Revival style, which has functioned as an apartment house, a fraternity and a center for transcendental meditation, can be seen at 1125 Southwest 2nd Avenue. Craftsmen bungalows fieldstone provincial homes are also found in these subdivisions.
During the 1920s subdivisions like Palm Terrace (1925), Hibiscus Park (1925) and Golf View (1926) reflected Gainesville's response to the Florida land boom. Palm Terrace, for example, has palm and oak trees forming a shady arcade over its streets, while water-filled sink holes create ponds planted with giant lily pads. This subdivision contains small picturesque "honeymoon" cottages, a Tudor Period home and a Mediterranean Revival bungalow at 120 Northwest 24th Street that evokes a Moorish atmosphere with its curved parapet and red barrel tiles.
The last of these subdivisions to be completed, Golf View, remains the most attractive and self-contained. Planned as an affluent enclave, it was not developed until the 1930s. It contains several large Period Revival houses, fieldstone residences and an outstanding field-stone castle complete with tower. This residence at 727 Southwest 27th Street, "The Castle," built in 1939, features a living room ceiling that soars twenty-five feet in height. The forty-foot central tower houses a spiral staircase. A nearby, attractive, Mediterranean style residence at 2721 Southwest 7th Place has a miniature wrought iron balcony on its exterior facade, a terra-cotta tiled sun porch, a baroque fireplace and a palisander bedroom suite upstairs.
All these subdivisions were shaped by the University and their primary residents were students and faculty through World War II. Since then faculty residential preferences and student complexes have shifted to the Southwest and other Northwest sections of Gainesville, leaving these earlier subdivisions as unique examples of the University and city relationship.