Home — 1930 -- 1939 — 1937d – Hanna House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is completed

The arts have enjoyed a vital and dynamic presence on the Stanford campus since the University was founded, together with the Stanford Museum, over a century ago. Chronicled here is the history of that presence ─ a compelling story of permanent change and growth. At the same time, the assembled information and documents bring to light an underlying commitment to an education in and through the arts that has guided and informed the institution’s evolution throughout. Tradition and transformation go hand in hand.

Visitors to this site will find answers to a variety of questions:
What kinds of activities developed and increased as the various units and groups connected to the arts came into being and continued to evolve? How have those activities shifted their focus, and sometimes even their departmental affiliation, from one part of the university to another? When were the campus arts facilities constructed and how have they been used? Who have been the key personalities and groups involved?

What have been the landmark achievements? What are the broader themes and tendencies that are common to the myriad pursuits, constituting a Stanford tradition?

The Stanford Arts Initiative, which began in 2006, has energized the arts on campus in transformative ways: new buildings for the arts are being constructed, faculty positions and student stipends added, and curricular reforms enacted.

The Initiative formed part of the five-year campaign called The Stanford Challenge, a cross-disciplinary vision for the 21st century. The Initiative’s momentum is being sustained across campus, in particular through the work of the Stanford Arts Institute. By promoting collaboration and further integrating the arts into the fabric of university life, the university will continue to establish new connections among arts disciplines at the same time as it blurs the boundaries between the curricular and the extracurricular.

Discover here an enduring legacy in higher education: a mix of idealism and pragmatism, theory and practice, knowledge and invention, community service and individual discovery, excellence and innovation.

Denning Family Director of the Stanford Arts Institute

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The Arts Timeline was funded, created, and produced by the Stanford Arts Institute. Additional funding was generously provided by The Ben and A. Jess Shenson Funds at Stanford University.

Timeline team: Kathryn Dickason, Toni Gauthier, Stephen Hinton, Ashley Kennedy, Heidi Lee, Stav Ziv

We are grateful to the Special Collections and University Archives Department of Stanford University Libraries for permission to reproduce images from various collections, in particular the Historical Photograph Collection.

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Honeycomb House

79 years ago Catergory: 1930 -- 1939, Arts Spaces, Visual Art

NOV 1937 Hanna House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is completed

The Hanna–Honeycomb House, recognized as a National Historic Landmark, was Wright’s first work in the SF region and his first to use non-rectangular structures. An example of “organic architecture” that implements a hexagonal design throughout, Hanna House has been designated by the American Institute of Architects as one of 17 buildings among more than 400 designed by Wright “to be retained as an example of his architectural contribution to American culture.”

William McCaw (‘57) remembers a talk given by the legendary designer of Hanna House: “I remember, as a freshman, that Frank Lloyd Wright gave a talk at Mem Aud. Wright was in his early eighties. He was sort of a showboat, a very dramatic kind of figure. After he was introduced, he came out on the stage and looked around Mem Aud; there was a long pause. Then he said to us, ‘We’re gathered here tonight in a box, and there is no structure so restrictive and unimaginative as a box.’ And that really caught me—I can still remember his opening line. And then he went on to explain his principles of architecture—that they should be based on natural forms and that we always felt better, more productive and happier, when we were attuned to nature. And that architecture can do that for us, bring us closer to nature and should include, as far as possible, forms and materials that are derived from nature. I thought that was a great idea. I never really heard it before, and it’s sparked a long interest in architecture that I’ve had ever since.”

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