The evolution of Barnum Center
What piece of Stanford University architecture is 119 years old, survived both the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and an electrical fire in 2001, and was once the campus bookstore, a career development center, and a library?
The answer is Barnum Center, a one-story structure at the intersection of Lasuen and Escondido malls — and it’s the most historic piece of the Graduate School of Education’s (GSE) new campus.
“What’s special about Barnum is that it’s been with us from the beginning, and if these walls could talk, they would have a lot to tell about how the neighborhood has completely changed,” said Sapna Marfatia, director of architecture at Stanford.
“In the time it’s been around, the streets have changed, the people have changed, the buildings have changed, and an earthquake has happened, but it has been there with the main quad just quietly sitting and watching the whole evolution of Stanford take place.”
A look into the past
Before it was known as the Barnum Family Center, the building at 505 Lasuen Mall was home to the old campus bookstore from 1906 to 1960, the Western Civilization Library until 1967, and the Career Development Center until 2001, when an electrical fire burned through most of the building’s interior, leaving it vacant for six years.
Along the way, three adjoining buildings were constructed on the east side of the building: the first in 1910, which was used as a candy store, a YMCA and later as an extension to Barnum; the second, a two-story structure built in 1930 and used as a shoe repair shop, and the third; a one-story addition built in 1984 that was attached to the 1910 building’s east façade.
In 2007 former GSE Dean Deborah Stipek was able to restore the space, which included demolishing the 1930 and 1984 additions and adding a one-story connector, with the help of a donation from the Barnum Family. It was then used to house existing GSE programs like the Stanford Center on Adolescence and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities.
“Barnum was a center for centers,” Stipek said. “It was a place that housed mostly multidisciplinary centers of activity, and it became a much needed space for the GSE.”
A step into the future
When its doors open again with the rest of the renovated GSE campus later this year, it will be as a classroom and gathering space.
“It’s going to be a really fantastic classroom that accommodates 100 students, and doubles as an event space for smaller gatherings,” said Olivia Crawford, associate dean for finance and operations at the GSE. “Our students deserve to have a really inspiring, light-filled space with the newest technology, and I think it’s going to be really special once we’re able to move in.”
While architects and construction teams have worked to retain much of Barnum’s original appeal, including keeping 50 historic windows, alterations to the space include removing subdivisions added in the early 2000s within the building to make it one large room, adding new acoustic paneling to the walls, installing projectors and drop-down screens, and demolishing the 1910 exterior addition to make room for the GSE’s south building and restore Barnum’s status as a standalone structure.
“Barnum in its newest iteration is designed as a flexible classroom, with tables and chairs that can move and be more theater-style seating,” said Mousam Adcock, a principal at CAW Architects who has been involved in the GSE’s construction project since 2017.
“From the inside it’s a very special experience because you’re surrounded by windows high and low, giving you natural light from all parts of the room,” she said. “It’s a really beautiful, multifunctional space, and this renovation is giving it new life.”
