Attractions in Stanford
Bordering Palo Alto and Silicon Valley, Stanford is less than one hour from San Francisco, redwood forests and the beaches along the Pacific Ocean. But the sprawling campus, which at 8,180 acres is among the biggest in the United States, also provides its own unique beauty.
Red Barn
The Victorian-style Red Barn, constructed in 1878-79, is one of the few surviving structures on campus that predates the university's establishment. Prior to the university's existence, Leland and Jane Stanford, founders of the university, used their land in Santa Clara Valley as an experimental horse farm. The barn itself was once part of a network of nine such buildings that housed roughly 550 horses, from champion trotters to thoroughbred racers. The Red Barn, situated alongside the Stanford Golf Course, still houses horses, and the Department of Athletics uses the facility and the surrounding stables to conduct equestrian classes.
Palm Drive
Palm Drive, the mile-long, palm tree-lined entrance to campus, connects Stanford with the neighboring town of Palo Alto. Bike and walking paths and an arboretum border Palm Drive, and the street culminates at the Oval, a lawn at the front of campus where students often study or play volleyball and Frisbee. The view west down Palm Drive -- with palm trees framing Memorial Church and the foothills beyond -- is a classic Stanford shot.
The Main Quad
The expansive Main Quad contains the university's first buildings, constructed between 1887 and 1891. With its palm trees and sandstone arcades, the distinctively Northern California style of the Inner Quad has a calming influence on passersby, and students frequently can be found studying in the shadows of its arches, or sleeping on the edges of its sun-drenched planter islands.
James H. Clark Center
Friday, Oct. 24, 2003, marked the dedication of the James H. Clark Center, the centerpiece of Stanford University's Bio-X program -- an innovative campuswide initiative designed to foster interdisciplinary research in the biosciences by bridging the worlds of biology, medicine, engineering and the physical sciences.
Lake Lagunita
Something of a misnomer, Lake Lagunita is actually dry for a good portion of the year. Winter rains, and diverted water from nearby San Francisquito Creek, usually fill the irrigation reservoir in time for Spring Quarter, when the Athletics Department offers windsurfing lessons and students make use of its beach for reading, sunbathing and barbeques. Although the lakebed was once the site of the Big Game Bonfire that precedes the annual football matchup against rival Berkeley each fall, the bonfire was moved to a location near Stanford Stadium after the lake was discovered to be the breeding ground of endangered tiger salamanders. The trail surrounding Lake Lagunita is popular with exercise enthusiasts.
Memorial Church
The spiritual home of religious life on campus, nonsectarian Memorial Church also is the architectural centerpiece of the Main Quad and a landmark widely recognized as an emblem of the university. Memorial Church's façade, decorated with colorful mosaics (there are over 20,000 shades of color in the tiles), enlivens the Quad's stark beauty. The church's ornate interior boasts stained glass windows, intricate stonework, gold leaf decoration and redwood ceilings. Those fortunate enough to visit Memorial Church in the early morning may be treated to an impromptu concert by the university organist on one of the church's four organs.