University of Arizona: Student Union Building Extension/Old Women’s Building – Tucson AZ

Description

“The University of Arizona carried out a rather extensive building program with the aid of the P.W.A. The women’s building is characteristic of the architecture that was adopted for all buildings and has a somewhat north Italian medieval flavor and blends with the surroundings.

The building is part one and part two stories in height. On the first floor is a women’s gymnasium, 61 by 90 feet, with special exercise and locker rooms adjoining. There is also a swimming pool, 30 by 75 feet, furnished with underwater lighting and a modern sterilizing and filtering plant. On the second floor is a recreation hall, 86 by 114 feet, which may be used for dances. The orchestra is provided with a music shell on one side of this room.

The structure is semifireproof, exterior walls being brick trimmed with terra cotta, and the roof tile. The project was completed in March 1937 at a construction cost of $96,309 and a project cost of $104,316.”
(Short and Brown)

“The Women’s Building was completed in April, 1936, as another PWA-financed project. It was designed by Roy Place and built by the M. M. Sundt Co.

It is now an extension of the Student Union Building to the east and was altered by architect James McMillan, who was once chief draftsman for Roy Place, when the Student Union was built, into what is now the Gallagher Theatre.”
(Places in the Sun)