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Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
is located on a heavily wooded plot of land on South Main Street in the Museum District of
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. It is located east of
Rice Village Rice Village is a shopping district in Houston, Texas, United States. Rice Village is a collection of shops, restaurants and pubs, situated about a half-mile west of the center of Rice University's campus. The core "Rice Village" extends over se ...
, a retail district, south of
Boulevard Oaks Boulevard Oaks is a neighborhood in Houston, Texas, United States, containing 21 subdivisions north of Rice University and south of U.S. Highway 59. Developed primarily during the 1920s and 1930s, Boulevard Oaks contains two National Register hist ...
and
Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
, west of the
Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrate ...
, and north of
Southgate Southgate or South Gate may refer to: Places Australia *Southgate, Sylvania *Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria Canada *Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County * Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario Ed ...
. Founded in 1912, the university has been developed in a relatively uniform
Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...
style, emphasizing light brick facades, quadrangles, archways, and decorative
column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
s. There are notable exceptions to this style, including examples of
brutalism Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...
and
modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...
. In recent decades, new buildings have also been constructed outside the original pentagonal campus, but nearly all academic and undergraduate residential facilities are still located there. In addition to academic and administrative buildings, the Rice campus also includes the entirety of the
residential college A residential college is a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship wi ...
system, parking, recreational fields and facilities, concert halls, theatres, a
student center A student center (or student centre) is a type of building found on university and some high school campuses. In the United States, such a building may also be called a student union, student commons, or union. The term "student union" refers mos ...
, and sports facilities for the various
Rice Owls Rice University athletic teams are known as the Rice Owls. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of Conference USA, Rice sponsors teams in seven men's and seven women's NCAA sanctio ...
athletic teams.


History

Edgar Odell Lovett Edgar Odell Lovett (April 14, 1871 – August 13, 1957) was an American educator and education administrator. He was the first president of Rice Institute (now Rice University) in Houston, Texas. Lovett was recommended to the post by Woodr ...
, the first President of Rice (then known as the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science, Art, Philosophy, and Letters), emphasized the need for a large campus with a uniform architectural plan during his first visit to Houston in 1907. After Lovett's selection as president in 1908, the Institute's leadership began searching for a contiguous plot of land up to in size on the outskirts of Houston. The existing property in and around Houston bequeathed to the Institute by its late benefactor,
William Marsh Rice William Marsh Rice (March 14, 1816 – September 23, 1900) was an American businessman who bequeathed his fortune to found Rice University in Houston, Texas. Rice was murdered by his valet Charles F. Jones while sleeping. The murder was pa ...
, was deemed unsuitable for the siting of the university – Rice Ranch, located near present-day Bellaire, was too far from Houston, while a plot of land near
Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45, ...
was considered too small. Lovett expressed interest in flat farmland along Main Street north of
Brays Bayou Brays Bayou is a slow-moving river in Harris County, Texas. A major tributary of Buffalo Bayou, the Brays flows for from the western edge of the county, south of Barker Reservoir along the border with Fort Bend County, east to its convergence w ...
. Negotiations by Captain James A. Baker eventually led to a complicated land exchange with local entrepreneur George Hermann (namesake of
Hermann Park Hermann Park is a urban park in Houston, Texas, situated at the southern end of the Museum District. The park is located immediately north of the Texas Medical Center and Brays Bayou, east of Rice University, and slightly west of the Third ...
), who owned on both sides of Main Street. Through the deal and subsequent land exchanges, the Rice Institute had acquired fronting the west side of Main by 1910. The modern campus was not completed, however, until 1921, when a small parcel owned by
DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
was finally acquired. In 1909, the Board of Trustees selected
Ralph Adams Cram Ralph Adams Cram (December 16, 1863 – September 22, 1942) was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival style. Cram & Ferguson and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson are partner ...
's firm, Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson, to design the first five buildings and draft a master plan for the campus. The cornerstone of the Administration Building, now known as Lovett Hall, was laid in 1911. The early construction of the university was funded by the sale of timber interests on a piece of land in Louisiana owned by the Rice estate. In 1910, the campus power plant (now the Mechanical Laboratory) was connected to the regional rail network by a spur line, and Baker successfully negotiated with Harris County and nearby landowners to widen and run a trolley line down Main Street. In June 2020 Rice University bought the property of the bar Ginger Man, which closed the previous spring.


Campus layout

Rice's campus is a heavily-wooded tract of land located close to the city of
West University Place West University Place, often called West University or West U for short, is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area and southwestern Harris County. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population of the city was 14,955. ...
in the museum district of
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
. Five streets demarcate the campus: Greenbriar Street, Rice Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Main Street, and University Boulevard. For most of its history, all of Rice's buildings have been contained within this pentagon. In recent years, new facilities have been built within the vicinity of campus, but the bulk of administrative, academic, and residential buildings are still located on the original plot of land. The BioScience Research Collaborative, all graduate student housing, and the Wiess President's House are located off-campus. Transportation within the campus is facilitated by a small network of roads. The ''Inner Loop'', a one-way ring road, begins at the southwestern corner of the Shepherd School of Music, proceeds east-northeast past the Southern Colleges and Fondren Library, makes a 90-degree turn, passes in front of Lovett Hall, makes another 90-degree turn, continues south-southwest past the Engineering Quadrangle, Rice Memorial Center (RMC), Jones School of Business, and Recreation Center, and ends at the Shepherd School. This rectangular road is bisected by Alumni Drive, which begins at Rice Boulevard along the northwestern edge of campus and passes by Dell Butcher Hall, the Recreation Center, the RMC, the Jones School, the Baker Institute, and Wiess College before ending at Main Street. Other shorter roads connect to various campus entrances, laboratories, and sports facilities. A majority of parking on campus is concentrated at the western end of the pentagon in the form of
surface parking A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...
. Approximately of asphalt parking surrounds Rice Stadium; West Lots 1–5 are east of the stadium and Greenbriar Lot is west. A majority of residential, visitor, and faculty parking is located here; other, smaller parking lots are scattered throughout the campus, as well as two
parking garages A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...
: one underneath the Jones School and another currently under construction adjacent to Lovett College. Rice prides itself on the amount of green space available on campus; there are only about 50 buildings spread between the main entrance at its easternmost corner, and the parking lots and Rice Stadium at the west end. The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum, consisting of more than 4,000 trees and shrubs (giving birth to the legend that Rice has a tree for every student), is spread throughout the campus. Because of the management of its trees on campus, Rice earned the status as a "
Tree Campus USA In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
" from the
Arbor Day Foundation The Arbor Day Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Arbor Day Foundation has more than one million members and has planted more than 350 million trees in neighborhoods, communities ...
four times since 2012. The university's first president,
Edgar Odell Lovett Edgar Odell Lovett (April 14, 1871 – August 13, 1957) was an American educator and education administrator. He was the first president of Rice Institute (now Rice University) in Houston, Texas. Lovett was recommended to the post by Woodr ...
, intended for the campus to have a uniform architecture style to improve its aesthetic appeal. Influenced by the campuses of southern Europe, many of Rice's buildings are
Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...
in style, with sand and pink-colored bricks, large archways and columns acting as architectural motifs. Noteworthy exceptions include the glass-walled Brochstein Pavilion,
Lovett College Rice University contains eleven residential colleges which function as the primary housing, dining, and social organizations for undergraduate students. The system was established in 1957 and was inspired by the residential college systems at the ...
with its
Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...
-style concrete gratings, the eclectic-Mediterranean Duncan Hall, and the modern Moody Center for the Arts.


Quadrangles

The campus is organized around a number of quadrangles. The Academic Quadrangle, anchored by a statue of founder
William Marsh Rice William Marsh Rice (March 14, 1816 – September 23, 1900) was an American businessman who bequeathed his fortune to found Rice University in Houston, Texas. Rice was murdered by his valet Charles F. Jones while sleeping. The murder was pa ...
, includes
Ralph Adams Cram Ralph Adams Cram (December 16, 1863 – September 22, 1942) was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival style. Cram & Ferguson and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson are partner ...
's asymmetrical Lovett Hall, the original administrative building, to the east;
Fondren Library Fondren Library is the main library of Rice University in Houston, Texas. The library is named for Walter W. Fondren, a co-founder of the Humble Oil & Refining Company, whose family donated $1 million in 1946 for construction of the library. Th ...
to the west; Herzstein Hall, the physics building and home to the largest
amphitheater An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
on campus, to the north; Sewall Hall for the social sciences and arts to the southeast; Rayzor Hall, for the languages, to the southwest; and Anderson Hall of the
School of Architecture This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world. An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education. Africa ...
to the northwest. The Humanities Building is located behind the southwestern corner of the Academic Quad, adjacent to Fondren Library and Rayzor Hall. The Central Quadrangle lies to the west of Fondren Library, anchored by Brochstein Pavilion, a coffee shop and meeting space. Constructed in 2008, the glass pavilion is bounded by outdoor seating spaces, designed to revitalize the once-underused area. It is bounded by the Rice Memorial Center and Ley Student Center to the north and Herring Hall, designed by
César Pelli César Pelli (October 12, 1926 – July 19, 2019) was an Argentine-American architect who designed some of the world's tallest buildings and other major urban landmarks. Two of his most notable buildings are the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur a ...
, to the south. Further west lies the West Quadrangle, surrounded by McNair Hall of the Jones Business School to the north, the Baker Institute to the south, and Alice Pratt Brown Hall of the
Shepherd School of Music The Shepherd School of Music is a music school located on the campus of Rice University in Houston, Texas. From its inception in 1974Ericson, R."Unafraid, a New Music School Opens; NOT JUST MOSTLY MOZART" ''The New York Times'', March 10, 1974, p. ...
to the west. The eastern section of the quad adjoining Alumni Drive contains Jamail Plaza, donated by Lee Hage Jamail, wife of prominent attorney
Joe Jamail Joseph Dahr Jamail Jr. (October 19, 1925 – December 23, 2015) was an American attorney and billionaire. The wealthiest practicing attorney in America, he was frequently referred to as the "King of Torts". In 2011, his net worth was estimated b ...
, which includes a large globe-shaped fountain and public space connecting the Baker Institute to the Jones School. In the Engineering Quadrangle, located north of the Inner Loop and west of Duncan College, a trinity of sculptures by
Michael Heizer Michael Heizer (born 1944) is an American land artist specializing in large-scale and site-specific sculptures. Working largely outside the confines of the traditional art spaces of galleries and museums, Heizer has redefined sculpture in terms ...
, collectively entitled ''45°, 90°, 180°'', are flanked by Abercrombie Laboratory to the east, the Cox Mechanical Engineering Building to the west, and the Mechanical Laboratory to the north. Ryon Laboratory and Keck Hall also frame this quadrangle at the northwestern and southwestern corners, respectively. Duncan Hall is the latest addition to this quad, housing offices, classrooms, labs, and lecture halls for the Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Statistics departments.


Residential colleges

Roughly three-quarters of Rice's undergraduate population lives on campus. Housing is divided among eleven
residential colleges A residential college is a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship wi ...
, which form an integral part of student life at the university. The colleges are named for historical figures of and benefactors to the university. While there is significant variation in their appearance, facilities, and dates of founding, the colleges are an important source of identity for Rice students, functioning as dining halls, residence halls, and sports teams, among other roles. Each residential college, with the exception of Sid Richardson, possesses its own quadrangle, which provides a dedicated outdoor social and recreational space for members. Rice does not have or endorse a
greek system Fraternities and sororities are Club (organization), social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an Undergraduate education, undergraduate student, but conti ...
, with the residential college system taking its place. Five colleges – McMurtry, Duncan, Martel, Jones, and Brown – are located on the north side of campus, northeast of Lovett Hall. Six more colleges – Baker, Will Rice, Lovett, Hanszen, Sid Richardson, and Wiess – are located south of the Inner Loop and Academic Quadrangle. The south colleges are organized with respect to a pair of axes outlined in the original plan of the university. An east-west axis runs from Hanszen to Will Rice, while a north-south axis runs from the Inner Loop to Sid Richardson. The north-south axis contains the John and Anne Grove, a wide decomposed granite promenade covered by a thick canopy of cedar elm and oak trees.


Graduate housing

Rice provides off-campus housing for graduate students at two apartment complexes. Rice Graduate Apartments (RGA), constructed in 1999, is a 220-unit
garden apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...
complex located on
Bissonnet Street Bissonnet Street is a major arterial road in Houston, Texas, United States. Bissonnet begins at Main Street in the Museum District of Houston and travels west-southwest through West University Place, Bellaire, Gulfton, Sharpstown, and Alief bef ...
north of campus. Rice Village Apartments (RVA), constructed in 2010, is a 137-unit mid-rise building located west of campus on Shakespeare Street in
Rice Village Rice Village is a shopping district in Houston, Texas, United States. Rice Village is a collection of shops, restaurants and pubs, situated about a half-mile west of the center of Rice University's campus. The core "Rice Village" extends over se ...
. Both complexes are served by the university shuttle system, and Rice Village Apartments (which is a
LEED-certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
green building) discourages car use by providing new residents with a free bicycle. Rice Village Apartments, the designated unit for families, is within the
Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...
. Residents are zoned to Roberts Elementary School, Pershing Middle School (with
Pin Oak Middle School A pin is a device used for fastening objects or material together. Pin or PIN may also refer to: Computers and technology * Personal identification number (PIN), to access a secured system ** PIN pad, a PIN entry device * PIN, a former Dutch ...
as an option),Pershing Middle School Attendance Zone
" ''
Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...
''. Retrieved on March 17, 2016.
and Lamar High School.Lamar High School Attendance Zone
"
Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...
. Retrieved on January 29, 2018.
Previously the university had another graduate housing complex, Morningside Square Apartments, which had rooms larger than the other complexes and was also designed for families. Morningside Square had 54 units. The university purchased Morningside Square from Geoprime Properties in 2001. It closed and the municipal demolition permits were issued in 2017.


Sports facilities

The on-campus football facility, Rice Stadium, opened in 1950 with a capacity of 70,000 seats. In 2006, seating capacity was reduced to 47,000 by covering areas at each end of the field with tarps. Seating capacity was permanently reduced by the construction of the Brian Patterson Sports Performance Center in 2015, which occupies a formerly-tarped seating area behind the north
endzone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...
. The new facility, completed in 2016, replaces dated training facilities elsewhere on campus and includes a large new
scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used ...
mounted to its roof. Rice Stadium was the site of a speech by President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
, "Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort", on September 12, 1962, in which he challenged the nation to send a man to the moon by the end of the decade. In 1974, the stadium hosted
Super Bowl VIII Super Bowl VIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Minnesota Vikings and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...
.
Reckling Park Reckling Park is the baseball stadium at Rice University in Houston, Texas, USA. It serves as the home field of the Rice Owls baseball team. The stadium was built on the site of Cameron Field, Rice's home from 1978–99, in time for the 2000 s ...
, located south of Tudor Fieldhouse along University Boulevard, is the home of
Rice Owls baseball The Rice Owls baseball team is the interscholastic baseball team representing Rice University in Houston, Texas, United States. The Owls have appeared often in the NCAA Tournament since the tenure of head coach Wayne Graham began in 1992. The pr ...
. Opened in 2000, the stadium has a capacity of over 7,000.
Tudor Fieldhouse Tudor Fieldhouse is multi-purpose arena in Houston, Texas. Previously known as Rice Gymnasium, it was renamed in honor of Rice University alum Bobby Tudor, who spearheaded the renovation of the facility with a multimillion-dollar donation. The co ...
, known as Autry Court prior to 2007, is home to the basketball and volleyball teams. Other stadia include the Wendel D. Ley Track & Holloway Field and the George R. Brown Tennis Center. The , 14-court Tennis Center, located east of Rice Stadium along Rice Boulevard, opened in 2014; it replaced the Jake Hess Tennis Center adjacent to Recking Park, which became the site of the Moody Center for the Arts in 2017. The Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation & Wellness Center, opened in 2009, is a facility featuring a weight and cardio room, multipurpose fitness and dance rooms, indoor and outdoor basketball, racquetball and squash courts, a soccer and hockey arena, an Olympic-size competitive swimming pool, a recreational pool, and offices for counseling and wellbeing services. The complex was designed by
SmithGroupJJR SmithGroup is an international architectural, engineering and planning firm. Established in Detroit in 1853 by architect Sheldon Smith, SmithGroup is the longest continually operating architecture and engineering firm in the United States that ...
and LakeFlato Architects.


Other facilities

In 1994, the university and
Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...
jointly established
The Rice School The Rice School ( es, La Escuela Rice) is a K-8 school (the school serves grades kindergarten through 8) in Houston, Texas. Rice is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD). The Rice School is an HISD magnet school for a Science, ...
, a kindergarten through 8th grade public
magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...
, in the neighborhood of
Braeswood Place Braeswood Place is a group of subdivisions in Harris County, Texas, United States. The vast majority of the land is in Houston while a small part is in Southside Place. Braeswood Place is a mainly single-family neighborhood inside the 610 Loop, ...
south of campus.


Buildings


Academic


Administrative


Residential


Athletics


Dining and services


References

{{Rice University
Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
Rice University