California State University, Fullerton | www.titanmag.com | titanmagazine@fullerton.edu
California State University, Fullerton | www.titanmag.com | titanmagazine@fullerton.edu
When William B. Langsdorf looked over the land that had been selected as the home of Orange State College, he looked beyond the lush green orange groves to what could be.
Today, much of what was placed on the original master plan for the campus has come true and can be seen in a painting that now resides in the offices of Jay Bond, associate vice president of facilities management. The painting was the work of architect and artist Howard H. Morgridge, who served as the campus’s consulting architect from the early 1960s into the 1990s.
The feel of the campus has remained true to the vision of the campus’s first planners and leaders, says Bond. “The early planners of the campus dreamt big dreams. Planning seven-story buildings in seas of orange groves was a visionary step and we are still benefiting from that vision today.”
Today, the campus consists of 21 permanent buildings or building clusters with two structures—Steven G. Mihaylo Hall and a student recreation center—now under construction.
Langsdorf, then head of Pasadena City College, took his family to those orange groves to make his decision on whether to become founding president of what is now Cal State Fullerton. Whatever he envisioned in those hundreds of orange trees convinced him to take the job.
The first year, classes were held in six classrooms at Sunny Hills High School while plans were made for constructing a campus expected to serve as many as 15,000 by the 1970s and 20,000 full-time-equivalent students by 1983.
In 1960, Langsdorf moved the fledgling campus’s administrative staff to Mahr House—the largest of three buildings on the site (the other two structures were the Hetebrink House, built in 1884, which now houses athletics offices as the Titan House; and a barn that was later torn down). His office was set up in the master bedroom of the 1928 Spanish Colonial Revival-style home, while office supplies were stored in a bathroom. Faculty offices were in the dining room, while the living room served as admissions, advisement and counseling central.
Today, renovated and renamed through the generosity of alumnus George G. Golleher, Golleher House serves as a center for alumni activities and some university events.
Also in 1960, one-story bungalows were installed on the northwest side of the site as “temporary” classrooms. Those “temporary” facilities for the most part remain to this day and serve as the physical plant, carpentry and automotive shops, headquarters for University Police and the CSUF Children’s Center.
Three years later—1963—the university reached a milestone with the completion of the Letters and Science Building, which housed classrooms, the library, administrative and faculty offices. With nearly an acre of space on each floor, the building was among the largest facilities of its kind in the country.
As the university’s first permanent building, Letters and Science featured a number of interesting and notable distinctions. The seven-story building, with basement, was built with escalators that went up only to the fourth floor—state regulations at the time prohibited their installation beyond that level. It also was an official nuclear fallout shelter and emergency disaster facility. Finally, its sides were marked distinctively with a chevron-shaped, brutalist design that would appear over and over again on other campus buildings, most notably those surrounding the Quad.
The building was renamed Miles D. McCarthy Hall on Sept. 21, 1984. It was in honor of the founding chair and professor of biology who created and led the Health Professions Committee, who served not only stints as department chair, dean and vice president for academic affairs but, for nine months in 1981, as acting university president.
In an early campus planning document, it states: “Site development and adequate parking areas will proceed methodically with building construction. It is interesting to note that parking for student and faculty cars will be on the perimeter of the campus and adequate for 10,000 cars. Perimeter parking will limit traffic flow on campus to delivery, campus security and emergencies.” Parking is indeed located around the perimeter but today the campus features two multilevel parking structures as well, the 2,500-space Nutwood Parking structure at the corner of Nutwood Avenue and State College Boulevard and the 1,400-space State College Parking Structure north of the Titan Student Union. Presently there are a total of 11,329 campus parking spaces.
In the same early development document was mention of having elevated ramps connecting the various buildings “in the center mall. This will permit students to go from building to building without ‘long distance’ travel, thereby speeding up the time lapse necessary between classes and permitting students more opportunity for scheduling hourly classes in succession.”
That early plan can be seen in the connecting walkway from McCarthy Hall to the Performing Arts Building, which was completed in 1964. For some reason, that is the only connecting walkway ever built between campus buildings.
After that, construction continued rapidly.
In the 1970s a proposal was put forth to take 25 acres at the northeast corner of campus and make it into an arboretum. In the development justification, facility planning and operations representatives noted that the arboretum “will not only serve instructional and educational needs, but will preserve natural land and provide recreational and ecological applications for both communities.”
The CSU Board of Trustees gave its approval in 1972 and late that same year, the Eastlake-style Victorian residence of Fullerton’s first physician, George C. Clark, was moved from its location at the corner of Amerige and Lemon streets to the arboretum property in an effort to save the historic landmark. Restoration of the house was completed in 1975. The botanical garden and living museum, now the Fullerton Arboretum, a joint venture with the city of Fullerton, was dedicated in 1979. Today it is a popular site for tours, relaxation and special events, including weddings, and continues to be supported by the campus and surrounding community.
An effort by private supporters, government and the university brought to fruition the county’s first research gerontology center in 1988. Named after a retired educator and civic leader who gave the initial contribution to the funding drive, the Charles L. and Rachael E. Ruby Gerontology Center continues to serve as a central point for classes and programs of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (formerly known as Continuing Learning Experience).
One year after the Ruby Gerontology Center opened, the university also saw the opening of the six-story Fullerton Marriott—in a joint venture involving the Marriott Corp., the university and the city of Fullerton. It was believed to be the first hotel built and operated by a major chain on a college campus. Hotel revenues, along with city redevelopment funds underwrote the development of the Titan Stadium — completed in 1992 — that is used by campus and community sports teams and for special events.
Shortly after the campus was established, efforts were made to develop student housing. The first residence, a rented ranch house east of the campus, was home to 19 male students. In 1963-64, a two-story office building south of the campus (now Hope International University) was leased to house 120 coeds. By the mid-60s, two dorms were built south of the campus and leased by the institution. But student housing was flat—the facilities rarely reached optimum occupancy—and reverted to private interests by the end of the decade.
And so it stood until Cal State Fullerton’s first woman president, Jewel Plummer Cobb, decided that the campus needed student housing. It took five years, but in 1986, Cobb presided over the groundbreaking for residence halls to be constructed on the east side of campus.
Two years later, when the three buildings were opened, there was no doubt: these were not traditional dorms. The four-story buildings housed three-bedroom, fully furnished suites with much of the same feel and look as apartments.
Cal State Fullerton has continued to be a popular campus with students and, to meet their needs, building continues. An addition to the University Center, now known as the Titan Student Union, was completed in 1992. Among its features is a 1,200-seat pavilion, small theater, food court, pub, bowling alley and conference rooms.
An addition to the library was completed in 1996 and a 71,000-square-foot expansion of the Kinesiology and Health Science Building in 2003.
Additional classrooms and offices came on line in 1993 with the opening of the five-story University Hall. A Science Laboratory Center just south of McCarthy Hall was added in 1994. It was renamed in honor of alumnus Dan Black in 2006.
Today, construction and future planning continues. The latest master plan, approved in 2003, defines potential sites for up to 15 new facilities, proposed sites for additional parking structures and student housing, a meeting and dining facility on the east side of campus and expansions of some existing structures—all to meet the needs of a campus that has grown to serve nearly 36,000 students, as well as its surrounding communities.
“Hopefully, future generations will see us as visionary planners as well,” said Bond, “bringing a campus from suburban to urban while improving the quality of the built environment for people to learn and enjoy.”
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