The Hub is a historic building on the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

campus in Gainesville,

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in the

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. It is located on Stadium Road between Buckman Drive and Fletcher Drive. On June 24, 2008, it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

History

Early history

The Hub was built in 1949-1950 after being designed by Andrew Ferendino of the

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

architectural firm of Russell T. Pancoast and Associates, as directed by

Florida Board of Control The Florida Board of Control (1905-1965) was the statewide governing body for the State University System of Florida, which included all public universities in the state of Florida. It was replaced by the Florida Board of Regents in 1965.

architect

Guy Fulton Guy Chandler Fulton (October 27, 1892 – October 15, 1974) was an American architect known for his work on numerous buildings at the University of Florida while he was State Architect of Florida. Early life Fulton was born in Warsaw, Illinois ...

and UF's consulting architect Jefferson Hamilton. It was UF's first departure from the Collegiate Gothic

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

that had prevailed on the campus since the first buildings, Buckman and

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, were built in 1905. During its design phase, the Hub was briefly known as the Student Services Center. Around the time of its grand opening, it was renamed ''the Hub'' by students after a campus-wide contest.

Change in services

The Hub originally housed the campus

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librar ...

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

, barber shop,

soda fountain A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The device combines flavored syrup or syrup concentra ...

, and movie theater. Prior to moving to the J. Wayne Reitz Union in 2003, the university's bookstore and ID card services were both located at the Hub. A small food court was set up on the first floor and the "Technology Hub" selling computer accessories and software was on the second floor.

Renovations

In 2005, the Hub began undergoing a $10.8 million

renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...

and was later reopened in April 2007. The renovation added various computer and

videoconferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Ency ...

equipment, a open

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area, a Starbucks, and group and individual study rooms. The Office of Academic Technology and the International Center ( study abroad) moved to the Hub following the renovation.

References

National Register of Historic Places in Gainesville, Florida Buildings at the University of Florida Guy Fulton buildings University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida 1950 establishments in Florida University and college buildings completed in 1950 {{AlachuaCountyFL-NRHP-stub

History

Early history

Change in services

Renovations

See also

References