Colorado's first normal school for teacher training, approved by the state legislature in 1889, originally accepted any student a faculty member vouched for and offered remedial courses as needed. Students who agreed to teach after graduation in Colorado schools paid no tuition. The initial 40-acre campus on Rattlesnake Hill grew to a square mile. Enrollment surpassing 10,000 students led to a new West Campus (1960), 10th to 17th avenues between 20th and 24th streets, on what had been the Petrikin Farm. West Campus structures are more notable for size than style, with a few exceptions such as the Patton House ( WE22.1; c. 1916), at the southwest corner of 14th Avenue and 20th Street, an attractive, unmuddled bungalow used for the School of Nursing.
On the tree-shaded original campus, many Collegiate Gothic and Neoclassical landmarks survive. Carter Hall (
WE22.2; 1907, Robert S. Roeschlaub; 1939, Frederick W. Ireland, Jr.) was built as the library but was later converted to the administration building. Ireland's addition buried the Neoclassical original under blond brick Moderne additions, including curving two-story reading rooms, and a terracotta entry. Guggenheim Hall (
WE22.3; 1913, James Murdoch), a four-story Neoclassical building originally for industrial arts and now housing the fine arts department, has a twin on its south side, Crabbe Hall, formerly the