Building on reputation

UCLA

Royce Hall was one of the Westwood campus' original four buildings after the school moved in 1929 from its previous site on Vermont Avenue.

Modeled after a Milan basilica in the Romanesque style, it includes two towers, rounded Roman arches and a covered loggia. Its 1,829-seat auditorium under a coffered ceiling has played host to such luminaries as Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, George Gershwin and Duke Ellington. Damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Royce was closed four years for extensive renovation.

Its namesake, philosopher and historian Josiah Royce, died in 1916, three years before a Los Angeles teacher-training school became part of the university. But his intellectual interests deeply influenced higher education on the West Coast, partly through UCLA's early faculty and deans who had been his colleagues and students at Harvard.

Royce, who was born in a California mining camp in 1855, earned a bachelor's degree from the then-new University of California at Berkeley, where he later taught. He also received a doctorate from Johns Hopkins. Royce championed the idea that universities should seek truth rather than just transmit information.

Geisel Library

UC San Diego

When this striking building opened in 1970, the concrete and glass structure designed by William Pereira struck some as the essence of contemporary or even futuristic architecture. It looked like a spaceship on the La Jolla cliffs or an upside-down pyramid perched on a pedestal and soon became a symbol of the school. An underground expansion was added in 1993.

Originally known as the University Library Building, it was renamed after children's author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel -- otherwise known as Dr. Seuss -- and his widow, Audrey, in 1995. The Geisels, longtime residents of La Jolla, were great enthusiasts of the structure. Although the figure was never publicly revealed, she donated what was thought to be $20 million to the library.

Geisel, who died in 1991 at age 87, drew and wrote such beloved and vocabulary-building classics as "The Cat in the Hat," "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." His 47 books have been translated into 20 languages and have sold more than 200 million copies. The library contains a collection of his original drawings, notebooks, books, tapes and other memorabilia.

'Little Bridges'

Pomona College

Mabel Shaw Bridges, a student at Pomona College, died in 1907 at age 22 after a short illness. Her parents ("loyal to her dear memory and seeking to fulfill her high hopes of noble service," according to a plaque) donated $100,000 to build what is considered an architectural and acoustical gem.

"Little Bridges," as it is known, opened in 1915 and has been a favorite of musicians and audiences ever since. Formally, it's called the Mabel Shaw Bridges Hall of Music. (Don't confuse it with nearby Bridges Auditorium, or "Big Bridges," the much larger space that opened in 1931 and was funded by the same San Diego family.)

Designed by Myron Hunt in a Spanish Renaissance Revival style, Little Bridges is fronted by a dramatic archway entrance and houses a 600-seat concert hall with seating on three sides. Six years ago, it underwent a $5.2-million renovation that included a new pipe organ and a restoration of the redwood ceiling with its stenciled ornamentation.

Sproul Plaza

UC Berkeley

The campus' main outdoor gathering spot holds a prominent place in U.S. cultural history. In the fall of 1964, the Free Speech Movement erupted there with rallies against a ban on student political activities.