Women's Gymnasium (Gainesville, Florida)

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Women's Gymnasium
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Ustler Hall
Ustler Hall
Location: Gainesville, Florida
Coordinates: 29°39′1″N 82°20′49″W / 29.65028, -82.34694Coordinates: 29°39′1″N 82°20′49″W / 29.65028, -82.34694
Built/Founded: 1919
Architect: William Augustus Edwards
Architectural style(s): Other
Added to NRHP: June 27, 1979
NRHP Reference#: 79000660

[1]
Governing body: Local

The Women's Gymnasium also known as the University Gymnasium and Ustler Hall is an historic building on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It was designed by William Augustus Edwards in the Collegiate Gothic style. On June 27, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

[edit] History

Construction on the gymnasium began in the summer of 1918, just as World War I was coming to and end and UF's student body was growing. The building opened in 1919. It was designed as an assembly hall and sports venue, and was used for several years as the home of the Florida Gators men's basketball team. Audience size was not part of the construction plans, however. With the university continuing to grow, by the mid-1920's the building was mainly used for intramural sports and smaller assemblies.

When the university went fully co-educational in 1948, the building was renamed the Women's Gymnasium and was used for hosting women's sporting events. Though it stopped being used for sporting events in 1979 and the university received state funds to demolish the building, it was preserved.

With a donation from sociology alumna Kathryn Chicone Ustler in 2000, the vacant gym was transformed into a 14,700 square-foot three story academic building that contains faculty and administrative offices, as well as seminar classrooms. The restoration process began in 2004 and the Women's Studies Department moved into the facility in July of 2006. Now known as Ustler Hall, it houses the Center for Women's and Gender Studies Research. Ustler Hall is the only freestanding campus building in the United States devoted solely to Women’s Studies. This is the first building on the UF campus renamed to honor a woman.

[edit] References

  1. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).

[edit] External links

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