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CSU Archives and Special Collections

CSU Buildings and Grounds History

A history of CSU's building and grounds from 1870 to the present.

Education Building/Humanities Building, 1964-

A black and white photograph of a newly constructed two-story building with no surrounding vegetation. The windows are lined with horizontal tubing, or "sunscreens".

Humanities Building, 1964

From CSU's Sense of Place:  A Campus History of Colorado's Land-Grant University, by James E. Hansen, Gordon A. Hazard, and Linda M. Meyer.  Fort Collins, CO:  Colorado State University, 2018.

Architect – James M. Hunter and Associates

Builder – Hensel Phelps Construction Company of Greeley

450 West Pitkin Street

September 20, 1963, saw the bids go out for a Humanities classroom and office building to be built on the northwest corner of Pitkin and Center Avenue.  Architect James M. Hunter gave it a similar design to the neighboring Liberal Arts Building but smaller in size.  Built by the Hensel Phelps Construction Company of Greeley, on September 15, 1964, the new “Humanities Building” was ready for use. 

The original design was described as “a laboratory-type building having three levels”.  The first level had facilities for speech and hearing therapy along with a research laboratory.  The second level provided offices and rooms correlated with the speech and audio clinic.  The third level supported three large studios for art and design, plus several offices.  The building cost $870,000 and was officially dedicated on October 17, 1964, during Homecoming weekend.

In the summer of 1982, the State Board of Agriculture began discussions about renovating part of the building to accommodate the Occupational Therapy (OT) program. OT occupied the building for the next five years.

In the summer of 1987, two departments swapped buildings.  $82,000 was spent to remodel this building for the Department of Education.   Education moved into this remodeled Humanities Building from its former home on the east side of the Oval. It was renamed the “Education Building” in May 1988 by the State Board of Agriculture.

In September 1987 the Department of Occupational Therapy moved over to the former Education Building on the east side of the Oval.  That was the original Physics Building when it opened in 1920.  It too, got an extensive remodeling and became called the “Occupational Therapy Building”.

This classroom and office facility located north of the Chemistry Building is the home of the School of Education, School of Teacher Education and Principal Preparation (STEPP), Family and Consumer Sciences, and the School of Social Work.

Sources by Gordon A. Hazard

Colorado A&M News, December 1955, pages 1-9, vol. 10, number 6.

Colorado State University Collegian, January 17, 1961, page 1, col. 1-4, vol. LXIX, number 49.

The Colorado Aggie Alumnus, January – February 1961, page 4, col. 3, vol. 37, number 1.

The Colorado Aggie Alumnus, September - October 1961, page 12, col. 3, vol. 37, number 4.

Colorado State University Collegian, February 13, 1962, page 1, vol. LXX, number 64.

State Board of Agriculture Minutes, February 16-17, 1962, page 308.

Colorado State University Collegian, March 9, 1962, page 1, vol. LXX, number 79.

State Board of Agriculture Minutes, March 30, 1962, pages 330 and 333.

State Board of Agriculture Minutes, August 10, 1963, page 89.

State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 20, 1963, page 97.

Colorado State University Collegian, September 20, 1963, pp. 1, 9, vol. LXXII, number 1.

The CSU Alumnus, November – December 1963, page 7, vol. 38, number 5.

State Board of Agriculture Minutes, April 18, 1964, page 180.

Colorado State University Collegian, September 23, 1964, page 1, vol. LXXIII, number 3.

The CSU Alumnus, September-October 1964, page 12, vol. 40, number 4.

Colorado State University Collegian, May 20, 1965, page 1, vol. LXXIII, number 108.

CSU Collegian, April 26, 1972, page 1, vol. LXXX, number 116.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 13, 1974, page 1, vol. LXXXII, number 81.

“A History of Colorado State University 1870 – 1974”, by James E. Hansen II, 1974

“Democracy’s College in the Centennial State – A History of Colorado State University” by James E. Hansen II, 1977, pp. 387, 424.

Fort Collins Journal, April 11, 1978, page 4, vol. LXXXVI, number 133.

Fort Collins Journal, September 11, 1978, page 3, vol. LXXXVII, number 19.

Fort Collins Journal, September 15, 1978, page 1, vol. LXXXVII, number 23.

Fort Collins Journal, October 3, 1978, page 4, vol. LXXXVII, number 35.

Fort Collins Journal, March 7, 1979, page 5, vol. LXXXVII, number 119.

State Board of Agriculture Minutes, July 19, 1982, page 7-5.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 7, 1987, page 9, vol. 96, number 37.

State Board of Agriculture Minutes, May 10, 1988.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, August 22, 1997, page 6, vol. 106, issue 1.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, August 25, 1997, page 14, vol. 106, issue 2.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 6, 1998, page 3, vol. 106, issue 89.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, June 12, 2000, page 3, vol. 108, number 148.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 23, 2004, pages 1 and 3, vol. 113, number 24.

“Visionary Leadership, the Memoirs of William E. Morgan”, page 95, by Connie Pheiffenberger, 2005.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, April 14, 2016, page 8, vol. 125, number 47.

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