The University of Kentucky (UK) in Lexington, Kentucky is home to many notable structures, including one high-rise.
By floor count and height above ground level, the tallest building is the 18-floor Patterson Office Tower, consisting mostly of faculty and administrative offices. Demolition of the previous tallest buildings, the 23-story Kirwan Tower and Blanding Tower, parts of the former Kirwan-Blanding Residence Hall complex, began in May 2020.[1] [2] Even before the demolition of Blanding and Kirwan Towers, the Patterson Office Tower reached the highest altitude of any campus building because it sits on one of the highest points of the university. All three high-rises were built in the mid-1960s.
Recently constructed is a new parking structure for the Albert B. Chandler Hospital at South Limestone between Conn Terrace Transcript Avenue. The 1,600 space garage will be connected to the lobby of the new patient care facility via a skyway.
In the summer of 2010, Keeneland Hall, the first co-ed dormitory in the state, was named a state historic site by the Kentucky State Historical Society. This designation did not prevent it from being torn down in 2014 to make way for the new Limestone Park dormitory development.
In 2014, plans to replace most of the older north campus residence halls—specifically Boyd, Holmes, Keeneland, and Jewell Halls—with a new residential complex were approved.[3] New residence halls have also been planned for the College of Agriculture campus along University Drive and Nicholasville Road between Cooper Drive and Alumni Drive, the Medical Center campus along Transcript Avenue, near the Johnson Student Recreation Center at Cooper Drive, at Stoll Field next to the current Student Center, within the College Town district north of Euclid Avenue, along Washington Avenue (to be converted into a pedestrian-only facility) and along Scott Street.
Through the first part of the 21st century, substantial housing was needed due to increased freshman enrollment and the deteriorated conditions of surrounding neighborhoods. By 2010, the university planned to achieve 33% undergraduate housing, requiring the construction of an additional 2,500 units. By 2020, due to fast undergraduate growth, the university wanted to raise the undergraduate housing percentage to at least 40%, requiring the construction of at least 2,800 additional units. The ratio of graduate students to graduate units in Cooperstown and Greg Page Apartments would also need to be increased from 11% to 15%. The existing facilities would also need to be replaced. By 2010, 350 new units would need to be constructed, followed by an additional 250 units by 2020.
These projections proved inaccurate—even though the 2013–2019 period saw the completion of over 6,800 residence hall beds (including replacements for demolished and decommissioned halls), the 2019–20 school year saw more than 90% of a school-record freshman class of more than 5,300, plus more than 2,000 upperclassmen, live on campus.[4]
One of the more recent developments on campus was the long-delayed demolition of the Kirwan–Blanding residence hall complex. While approved in 2017, demolition was delayed due to a lack of funding for work required before demolition could start, mainly asbestos removal and the rerouting of utilities located under the complex that served much of the southern half of campus. With funding found for the rerouting, that project began in summer 2019, and demolition began on the complex in May 2020 after rerouting was completed. When UK announced final demolition plans in December 2019, it indicated that most of the 14acres site would be converted to green space, with a new 500-bed residence hall built on part of the property. Longer-term plans also allow for potential construction of two more residence halls on the site.[4] [5] Plans to build the new residence hall were placed on hold due to uncertainties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]
The planned residence hall would eventually be approved by the UK board of trustees in December 2023, with construction starting shortly thereafter. The new facility will have over 640 beds.[6]
The "Campus" listings refer to those used by the university on its current campus maps (as of 2018–19).[7] These designations have changed over time. Several of the current area designations, including the "Academic Core", were not historically used. Additionally, some buildings have had their area designations changed, such as the now-demolished Kirwan–Blanding residence complex, historically considered part of the south campus but now considered part of the central campus.
| Image | Building | Campus | Floors | Year Completed[8] | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maxwell Place | Academic Core | 2.5 | 1872 [9] | Completed | ||
| Hamilton House | North | 1880[10] | Demolished in fall 2014. | |||
| Main Building | Academic Core | 5 | February 15, 1882 [11] | Completed | ||
| White Hall | Academic Core | 1882 | Demolished in 1967. | |||
| Neville Hall | Academic Core | 1890 | Destroyed by fire in 1961. | |||
| Academic Core | 1892 | Home to the Engineering Department. Renamed Dicker Hall by the 1930s, and renamed again to Anderson Hall in 1948. Demolished in 1964; replaced by Anderson Tower. | ||||
| Gillis Building | Academic Core | 1892 | Completed | |||
| Miller Hall | Academic Core | 3 + B | 1898 | Completed | ||
| Bolivar Arts Center | West | 1899, 1917, 2015 | Purchased by UK in 2013; became home of the School of Arts and Visual Studies during summer 2015.[12] | |||
| Alumni Hall (Barker Hall & Buell Armory) | Academic Core | 3 + B + Bell Tower | 1901, 1937 | Completed | ||
| Patterson Hall | North | 3 + B | 1904, 2016 | Completed. Exterior mostly intact, but interior heavily renovated as part of the Limestone Park project. | ||
| Scovell Hall | Academic Core | 1905 | Completed | |||
| Education Building (Frazee Hall) | Academic Core | 1907 | Completed | |||
| Matthews Building | Academic Core | 1907 | Completed | |||
| Mining Laboratory (Engineering Annex) | Academic Core | 1907 | Completed | |||
| Carnegie Library[13] | Academic Core | 1909 | Demolished in 1967 | |||
| Pence Hall | Academic Core | 3 + B | 1909 | Completed | ||
| Kastle Hall | Academic Core | 3 + B | 1909, 1926 | Completed | ||
| Norwood Hall | Academic Core | 1910 | Destroyed by fire 1948 | |||
| Bradley Hall | Academic Core | 1921 | Completed | |||
| Alumni Gym Fitness Center | Academic Core | 1924, 2018 | Completed; originally known as Alumni Gymnasium. Converted to a student fitness center as part of the 2018 Student Center expansion and renamed at that time.[14] | |||
| McLean Stadium | Academic Core | 1924[15] | Demolished in 1974. | |||
| Boyd Hall | North | 4 | 1925[16] | Demolished in 2014 for Limestone Park. | ||
| McVey Hall | Academic Core | 3 + B | 1928 | Completed | ||
| Memorial Hall | Academic Core | 2 | 1929 | Completed | ||
| Taylor Education Building | West | ca. 1930 | Completed | |||
| Kinkead Hall | Academic Core | 1930 | Completed | |||
| Breckinridge Hall | Academic Core | 1930 | Completed | |||
| Thomas Poe Cooper Building | UK HealthCare | 1930 | Completed | |||
| Margaret I. King Library | Academic Core | 3 | 1931 | Completed | ||
| Lafferty Hall | Academic Core | 1936 | Completed | |||
| Student Union (Student Center) | Academic Core | 1938, 1963, 2018 | Almost completely rebuilt in a project completed in 2018. As part of the project, the 1963 addition was demolished in 2015; the 1938 portion remains intact with interior renovations and is incorporated into the current facility.[17] | |||
| Jewell Hall | North | 4 | 1939 | Demolished in 2014 for Limestone Park. Site now occupied by part of the current Holmes Hall. | ||
| Erikson Hall | Academic Core | 3 + B | 1939 | Completed | ||
| Funkhouser Building | Academic Core | 7 + B + B1 | 1942 | Completed | ||
| Cooperstown Apartments | Central | 1946 | Buildings razed in 2012–13 for Woodland Glen. | |||
| Frank D. Peterson Service Building | West | 1949 | Completed | |||
| Bowman Hall | Academic Core | 1949 | Completed | |||
| Fine Arts Building | Academic Core | 1950 | Completed | |||
| Memorial Coliseum | North | 3 | 1950 | Completed | ||
| Mineral Industries Building | Academic Core | 1951 | Completed | |||
| Grehan Journalism Building | Academic Core | 2+B | 1951 | Completed | ||
| Keeneland Hall | North | 4 + B | 1955 | Demolished in 2014 for Limestone Park. Site now occupied by the current Boyd Hall. | ||
| Donovan Hall | Academic Core | 5 | 1955 | Demolished in 2014 for the new Jacobs Science Building. | ||
| K-Lair Grill and Food Storage Building | Academic Core | 1 | 1955 [18] | K-Lair portion demolished in 2013. Food Storage Building demolished in 2014 for the new Jacobs Science Building. | ||
| Holmes Hall | North | 4 + B | 1958 | Demolished in 2014 for Limestone Park. Site now occupied by most of the current Holmes Hall. | ||
| Kelley Hall | UK HealthCare | 1959 | Completed | |||
| Blazer Dining | North | 4 | 1960 | Completed. Partially converted to a classroom building as part of the Limestone Park development; the pre-existing dining facility was expanded and renovated. Originally named "Blazer Hall," but renamed in 2016 due to name confusion with new Blazer Hall. | ||
| Haggin Hall | Central | 4 | 1960 | Demolished in 2013; replaced on-site by New Haggin Hall.[19] | ||
| Slone Research Building | Academic Core | 1960 | Completed | |||
| Chemistry–Physics Building | Academic Core | 4 | 1962, 2019 | Completed | ||
| Albert B. Chandler Hospital | UK HealthCare | 1962, 2011 | Completed | |||
| Commonwealth Village | South | 1963 | Completed. Graduate housing complex; decommissioned in fall 2017 and declared as surplus property by the university in December of that year. Sale of the complex planned, with the proceeds to create a fund for new graduate family housing at the Greg Page Apartments site.[20] | |||
| Gatton Business and Economics Building | Academic Core | 4 | 1963, 1992, 2016[21] | Completed. Original building expanded in 1992 and again in 2016. Also served as temporary home to the UK College of Law (along with UK-owned buildings formerly owned by Lexington Theological Seminary) in 2017–19 while its current building (see below) was being renovated. | ||
| Helen G. King Alumni House | Academic Core | 2 | 1963[22] | Completed | ||
| Margaret I. King Library (South) | Academic Core | 3 | 1963 | Completed | ||
| Dickey Hall | Academic Core | 1964 | Completed | |||
| Law Building | Academic Core | 2 + B (1965) 3 + B (2019) | 1965, 2019 | Completed. Briefly closed for a major renovation and reopened for the 2019–20 school year.[23] | ||
| Anderson Tower | Academic Core: Engineering Quadrangle | 7 + B | 1966 | Completed | ||
| Blanding Tower | Central | 23 | 1967 | Completed. Decommissioned as housing in fall 2016;[24] demolished in 2020 after original date of 2018 slipped.[25] | ||
| Blanding I, II, III, IV | Central | 3 | 1967 | Completed. Decommissioned as housing in fall 2017, demolished in 2020, with work continuing into 2021. The outer shell of Blanding III remained standing into 2021. | ||
| Kirwan–Blanding Commons | Central | 2 | 1967 | Completed. Dining hall and student lounge; decommissioned in fall 2015, demolished in 2020. | ||
| Kirwan Tower | Central | 23 | 1967 | Completed. Decommissioned as housing in fall 2016; demolished in 2020. | ||
| Kirwan I, II, III, IV | Central | 3 | 1967 | Completed. Decommissioned as housing in fall 2017; demolished in 2020. | ||
| Patterson Office Tower | Academic Core | 18 | 1969 | Completed | ||
| Cliff Hagan Stadium | Wildcat Sports & Recreation | N/A | 1969, 2002 | Completed. Scheduled to be demolished after completion of the new baseball park. | ||
| White Hall Classroom Building | Academic Core | 3 + B | 1969 | Completed | ||
| Sanders–Brown Center on Aging | UK HealthCare | 4 | 1972 | Completed | ||
| Kroger Field | Wildcat Sports & Recreation | N/A (two decks) | 1973, 2015 | Completed. Originally known as Commonwealth Stadium; name changed in 2017 with sponsorship from Kroger. | ||
| Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library | Academic Core | 2 + B | 1974 | Completed. Originally the north addition of the Margaret I. King Library. | ||
| University of Kentucky Children's Hospital | UK HealthCare | Completed | ||||
| Kentucky Clinic | UK HealthCare | 5 | Completed | |||
| Singletary Center for the Arts | Academic Core | 1979 | Completed | |||
| Greg Page Apartments | South | 25 buildings, 2 floors each | 1979[26] | Completed. Greg Page Apartments was named after Greg Page, one of the first two African-American football players at UK. Before playing a varsity game, Page became paralyzed after a blow to the back during a 1967 practice and died from the complications 38 days later. | ||
| Student Center Addition | Academic Core | 1982 | Demolished in 2015 as part of the Student Center renovation and expansion project. | |||
| Markey Cancer Center | UK HealthCare | 1985 | Completed | |||
| Boone Faculty Center | Academic Core | 1 | 1986 | Completed | ||
| Gluck Equine Research Center | Agriculture | 1987 | Completed | |||
| E.J. Nutter Training Facility | Wildcat Sports & Recreation | 1987 | Completed | |||
| Lancaster Aquatic Center | Wildcat Sports & Recreation | 1989 | Completed | |||
| Charles E. Barnhart Building | Agriculture | 1990 | Completed | |||
| ASTeCC Building | Academic Core | 1994 | Completed | |||
| William T. Young Library | Central | 6 + B | 1998 | Completed | ||
| CRMS Building | Academic Core | 5 + B | Completed | |||
| Oliver H. Raymond Civil Engineering Building | Academic Core | 3 + B | 1998 | Completed | ||
| James F. Hardymon Building | North | September 2000 | Completed | |||
| Ralph G. Anderson Building | Academic Core | 3 + B | 2002 | Completed | ||
| Bernard M. Johnson Student Recreation Center | Wildcat Sports & Recreation | January 2003 | Completed. Expansion and renovation of the former Seaton Center. | |||
| Charles T. Wethington Jr. Building | UK HealthCare | 6 | February 2003 | Completed | ||
| Gill Heart Institute | UK HealthCare | 5 | April 2004 | Completed | ||
| Biomedical Biological Science Research Building | UK HealthCare | 5 | April 2005 | Completed | ||
| Dale E. Baldwin Residence Hall | Central | 3 | August 2005 | Completed | ||
| Margaret Ingels Residence Hall | Central | 3 | August 2005 | Completed | ||
| David P. Roselle Residence Hall | North | 4 + Maintenance Level | August 2005 | Completed. Occupies a property that once housed outdoor basketball courts. | ||
| John T. Smith Residence Hall | Central | 3 | August 2005 | Completed | ||
| Joe Craft Center (basketball practice facility) | North | 2 | January 2007 | Completed | ||
| Student Health Facility | UK HealthCare | 4 | July 2008 | Completed | ||
| Biological Pharmaceutical Complex Building | UK HealthCare | 5 + B | 2010 | Completed | ||
| Davis Marksbury Building | North | 2011 | Completed | |||
| Wildcat Coal Lodge | North | 2012 | Completed | |||
| Herman Lee Donovan Hall & Lyman T. Johnson Hall | Central | 4 | Fall 2013 | Completed.[27] Known as Central Hall 1 & 2 during the planning and construction stages. | ||
| Frances Jewell Hall | North | 2014 | Completed.[28] Originally named Champions Court I. | |||
| Georgia M. Blazer Hall | North | 2014 | Completed. Originally named Champions Court II. | |||
| Chellgren Hall, Bell Hall, Woodland Glen III, IV, & V | Central | 2014–2015 | Completed. Chellgren Hall (originally Woodland Glen I) and Bell Hall (originally Woodland Glen II) opened in fall 2014; the remainder opened in fall 2015. | |||
| New Haggin Hall | Central | 5[29] | Fall 2014 | Completed | ||
| The 90 | Central | 2015 | Completed[30] | |||
| Don & Cathy Jacobs Science Building | Academic Core | 2016 | Completed.[31] Occupies the sites of the original Donovan Hall and Food Storage Building. | |||
| Sarah Bennett Holmes Hall | North | 2016 | Completed.[32] Known during planning and construction stages as Limestone Park I; occupies the same site as the original Holmes and Jewell Halls. | |||
| Cloona Belle Matthews Boyd Hall | North | 2016 | Completed. Known during planning and construction stages as Limestone Park II; occupies the site of the former Keeneland Hall. | |||
| Medical Research Building | UK HealthCare | 6 | Planning[33] | |||
| Lewis Hall | Central | 5 | 2017 | Completed. Serves both as a residence hall and an office facility for UK's Lewis Honors College. | ||
| University Flats | Central | 7 | 2017 | Completed[34] | ||
| Kentucky Proud Park | Wildcat Sports & Recreation | N/A | 2018 | Completed in fall 2018, with the UK baseball team beginning play in the new park in 2019.[35] [36] | ||
| Martin–Gatton Agricultural Sciences Building | South | 4 | 2026 | Ground broken in March 2024. Will become the main teaching facility for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.[37] | ||
| Michael D. Rankin M.D. Health Education Building | UK HealthCare | 8 (south wing) 10 (north wing) | 2026 | Ground broken in December 2023. Will house programs in the Colleges of Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health.[38] [39] |