San Diego State College

The historic core of San Diego State University is a campus district planned in the late 1920s and built from 1930, when the college moved to a new mesa-top site overlooking Alvarado Canyon. Architect Howard Spencer Hazen designed the original buildings in Spanish Colonial Revival style with Moorish and Mission Revival details, grouping them around quadrangles like a Spanish monastery. The Academic Building's southern entry, with round towers, a rusticated arch and a bell tower, is the best-known feature. Land was donated by Alphonzo Bell's company, and Mark Daniels contributed landscape planning. Works Progress Administration labor added buildings, an arcade, benches and Donal Hord's Aztec statue during the 1930s and early 1940s. The district was recognized for its link to President Edward Hardy's holistic vision of education, continued by Walter Hepner, for its architecture, and for its WPA work. Despite later alterations and the loss of most of Aztec Bowl, the core retains its original character and remains in use.