UNIVERSITY ARCHITECTURE. The earliest univer sities, such as Paris, Bologna, Prague. Salamanca and others were established in towns, and it is with the buildings of the towns that the universities grew and became mingled. They were often housed under the protection of religious establishments in monastic and church buildings, and, if under secular control, in old palaces or other structures hired or lent by the civil authorities and not always planned for the purposes of the university.
Nearly all modern univer sity structures on the Continent of Europe are Renaissance ; the remainder are classic in style. Exigencies of the site, such as land values and density of the surroundings, have in many cases im posed a form of building with a closely knit plan entirely occupy ing a city block. Uninterrupted exterior walls correspond with the street building lines. Within are one or more courts providing light and air. These courts are usually surrounded by a colonnade which gives access to the various rooms. An example of this type is the Sorbonne (Nerot, architect ; 1885-1900). Where the site is sufficiently open the U- and H-shaped plans or a combination of these are found. An imposing group of university buildings laid out in modern style is at Strasbourg. Other universities of a modern type are to be found at Vienna (Ferstel, architect; 1885), Uppsala, Munich, Bucharest, Budapest.
The University of Cairo resembles a mosque (q.v.). At the imperial University of Peking new buildings influenced by western design are taking the place of the native one or two-storey structures of gray brick, built about small square courts, opening into each other through broad gate ways, and said to have been originally palaces. The 5o buildings of the modern University of Tokyo indicate the influence of German universities, and like them provide for education in the sciences.
University buildings in South America invariably contain one or more courts or patios, from the galleries of which the surrounding rooms are entered. The exteriors are in the Renaissance style as taught at European architectural schools—notably those of France—and found in modern buildings of that country and of Spain. Mansard roofs are much in favour for buildings upon a large and pretentious scale, and abundant ornament characterizes both interiors and exteriors. Of this order are the National University of Mexico at Mexico City, the university buildings at La Plata, Argentina, the University of Montevideo, Uruguay, and the Catholic uni versity at Santiago, Chile.
Oxford and Cambridge typify the English university system, and are so singularly venerable and traditional that, in the English-speaking world, their names are almost synonymous with the word university. The congeries of
buildings that grew up at Oxford round the University Church of St. Mary and the Schools, consisted first of halls, which were scarcely more than inns or hostels for the students, that is to say, rows of separate dwellings, each with its entrance on the side away from the street and each independent of its neighbour. Later the colleges were erected, each sufficient unto itself, with its own chapel and antechapel, library, masters' lodge and hall, common room, student lodging, dining hall (commons), kitchen, buttery, bake-house, brew-house, cellars and other offices. Addi tional rooms were contrived later in the attics, by means of roof and wall dormers, additional storeys and by additional colleges. The early colleges were so constructed as nearly to enclose a quadrangular sequestered space.
These establishments epitomize the history and development of the national styles ranging from the monastic period through the centuries marked by the Perpendicular, Tudor, Elizabethan, Jacobean and Modern styles. In spite of their variations, the oldest of the colleges have in common an architectural character that has been designated the English Collegiate Gothic style. The old English universities dominate the town and yet defer to it in so far as the architectural boundary lines conform to the streets, none of which are rectilinear. Instead of rigidly formal lay-outs or grouping of buildings, there is a happy picturesque ness Modern buildings have, however, made their appearance.
The modern Universities of London, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham differ radically from Oxford and Cambridge, and being urban, student lodgings play little or no part in their design.
The influence of both English and Continental university architecture is seen in the building for educational institutions which has taken place on a prodigious scale in America during the past so years. The earliest foundations to develop with the towns in which they were situated were Harvard and Yale. The typical American university, however, differs from these in having, often isolated in rural districts, its own separate domain, the heart of which is the campus (q.v.) or college yard.
The University of Virginia, designed by Thomas Jefferson and dominated by the classic library, is believed to be the first general scheme realized. After the period of stagnation of the arts, and following the awakening caused by the Centennial at Philadelphia and the work of Richardson and other pioneers (see MODERN