The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Esplanades

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Institution Name: Florida Southern College
Original/Historic Place Name: Esplanades
Location on Campus: West Campus - Johnson Ave.
Date(s) of Construction:

1941-1958

original construction Wright, Frank Lloyd

Designer: Frank Lloyd Wright
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Modern/pre-WWII, Modern/post-WWII (Glossary)
Significance: architecture
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: concrete

Walls: concrete

Roof: built-up

Function:

ca. 1941

other (covered walkways that connect buildings over the entire campus)

Narrative:
The Esplanades are covered walkways 1.5 miles in length that connect the buildings on campus. Trimmed with sculptured copper, they provide shelter and in many places have central openings to allow light and rain to reach planters located at the ground level of the walkways.

References:

Florida Southern College. Historic American Buildings Survey report and photos. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, [n.d.].

Florida Southern College: The First Hundred Years. Lakeland, FL: Florida Southern College, 1985.

Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly 12, no. 3 (2001).

Little, J. Rodney, and Phillip A. Werndli. Florida Southern College Architectural District. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1975.

Rogers, Steven B. "The Frank Lloyd Wright Campus at Florida Southern College: A Child of the Sun." Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly 12 (Summer 2001): 4-23.

Smalling, Walter, Jr. Esplanade (Walkway) [Florida Southern College]. Historic American Buildings Survey photographs. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1979.