Web Tour
Here's a quick photo tour that will give you a feel of the Oxy campus, including some of our best-known landmarks and spaces.
If there’s a single iconic building on campus, it’s Thorne Hall. Located on the northern end of the Quad, it is the main auditorium that has hosted speakers from Martin Luther King to Ronald Reagan, and artists from Robert Frost to Hilary Hahn.
The Dennis and Mollie Collins Admission House was originally designed as the President's House and was erected 1922.
The Academic Commons, housed in Clapp Library, is the intellectual heart of campus. Located at the southern end of the Quad, it houses not only Oxy’s print and digital collections but a wide range of student support services.
This is the student Quad, with the sloping lawn and retaining wall that have made it a favorite place for Quad-sitting: the Oxy term for hanging out.
Samuelson Campus Pavilion, aka The Tiger Cooler, was originally the women's gymnasium, but is now known for wood-fired pizza, among other fare.
The Rev. James Lawson speaks in one of Oxy's larger lecture spaces, the Samuel B. Mosher Science Lecture Hall, in the Kenneth T. Norris Hall of Chemistry.
Erected in 1928, the Johnson Student Center and Robert Freeman College Union serves as a center for the social life of the campus. It houses the Marketplace, The Green Bean Coffee Lounge, ASOC office, the Bookstore, Campus Dining Rooms and Offices, the Mailroom, the Post Office, the Office of Student Life and the central heating plant.
The Remsen Bird Hillside Theater, named by the Board of Trustees in honor of the College's President from 1921 to 1946, is the gift of the Eagle Rock community, Mr. Alphonzo Bell, '95, Mr. William Meade Orr, Mrs. Calvin Pardee, and other friends of the College. It is mainly Greek in design, but has a raised stage and a circular orchestra pit approached by a stepped ramp. The theater has a seating capacity of three thousand six hundred fifty, and is noted for its picturesque location and remarkable acoustic properties. Erected 1925.
The Academic Quad, bounded by Johnson and Fowler halls, the Academic Commons, and Johnson Student Center, is the historic heart of campus. The benches under the oaks are a favorite place to sit and read, talk, or hold a seminar.
Oxy's W. C. Patterson Athletic Field is named in honor of a friend of the College and former trustee, with funds provided by Mrs. Patterson. Spectator stands have a seating capacity of 2,600. Constructed 1916. The Bill Henry Track is named in honor of William M. Henry '14. The all-weather track, on the site of the original built in 1916, was constructed at Patterson Field under the auspices of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, with funds provided by the Atlantic Richfield Company. Constructed 1983. Patterson Field and the Bill Henry Track are both located in Kemp Stadium, which is named after Jack Kemp '57.
Oxy's recent production of Hair in Keck Theater, named for the late William M. Keck in recognition of the generous gifts from his estate, provides a state-of-the-art, professional quality stage. Used for both Theater Department and Cultural Studies classes, the building is the first in the United States featuring adjustable Lambda platforms allowing various configurations for a total of four hundred twelve seats. Erected 1987.
Grace Carter Erdman Hall was built in memory of the wife of Professor Pardee Erdman. It was made possible in part by gifts from Mrs. Calvin Pardee, Mrs. Charles R. Erdman, Professor Erdman, and friends, and from College funds. Built in 1927 and modified in 1979, Erdman Hall is one of the more popular buildings on campus. Dubbed as one of the "period" halls due to the unique architecture, Erdman houses 80 residents in single, double and triple rooms on two floors, with the first floor being single-gender by section and the second floor being co-ed by alternate room.
Named for the first wife of Occidental's tenth president, the Lucille Y. Gilman Memorial Fountain is located at the Alumni Drive entrance to campus. The late George Baker '58, who taught sculpture at Oxy from 1964-1997, designed the kinetic fountain Water Forms II, which he built with his students in 1979.