University of Washington campus offers lasting memories with Suzzallo Library (photos, video)

First-time visitors to the

Reading Room on the

campus give themselves away.

The moment they walk in the room their eyes go up, drawn by the 65-foot-high vaulted ceiling, 22 ornate chandeliers and an equal number of 35-foot stained glass windows.

It's like walking into a Gothic cathedral in Europe.

A local architectural magazine pronounced the room, upon completion in 1926, as "the most beautiful on the continent and among the most beautiful in the world."

A bold statement and certainly open to debate, but there is little doubt that the room is the king of architectural masterpieces we've encountered while reporting a series of college campus stories (

).

And why shouldn't UW have such a room, since it is the largest university in the Pacific Northwest in the largest and wealthiest city. The Huskies soon will show off another signature landmark to an Oregon audience when they host the University of Oregon in a Pac-12 football game Oct. 12 at

, which has undergone a $280 million remodel.

The University of Washington has had financial resources beyond other regional colleges, dating back to its 1861 creation in downtown Seattle on land donated by city founder Arthur A. Denny. The campus later moved to the shores of Lake Washington, where it would serve as site of the 1909 Alaskan-Yukon Pacific Exposition, incorporating elements from the famed Olmsted Brothers' design.

The first building on the new campus was Denny Hall, built in 1894 and still an architectural standout.

Philanthropy at UW continues to this day, with buildings and departments that bear names of the parents of Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen and other prominent residents.

The Suzzallo Library (pronounced SUZE-a-low) takes the name of the university president who had the inspiration to build it in such a grand, classical style.

A campus of brick

After having slipped behind the University of Oregon in recent years, the UW athletic department is catching up with a lavish upgrade to Husky Stadium, which made its debut Aug. 31 with a win against Boise State. In addition to improvements to the field, stands, locker rooms, weight rooms and parking garage, the main entry has a new brick facade to match the beauty of so many other campus buildings.

Even for those not planning to attend a game, there is plenty to see on the UW campus. And visitors don't need to wear purple and gold to feel welcome.

The huge brick plaza at the heart of campus, nicknamed Red Square, can be a bit daunting as a starting point for exploration. Suzzallo Library decorates one side of the square, but the Kane building next to it is as mundane as architecture comes. The square's three mysterious soaring towers actually have a function: one vents the massive parking garage below, the others make the one doing the work look aesthetic.

Red Square is great for people watching, because someone or something always seems to be entertaining, whether it's a student juggling or a seagull looking for a handout.

If the campus were a pie, most of the visitor attractions would be in the upper left quarter when looking north from the library. Walk past the Broken Obelisk (you'll know this sculpture when you see it) to reach one of the greatest public spaces in the state. The Liberal Arts Quad is flanked by six of those graceful brick buildings, built in the classic Eastern university style.

See the quad in all its beauty, especially when the Yoshino cherry trees bloom in spring, from atop the staircase between the art and music buildings.

Class changes bring a river of students onto the walkways, but within minutes most disappear inside.

Continue a campus tour by walking northwest, into the adjacent Denny Yard. Another quad-like space, the yard is flanked by the stylish Paccar business school, right next to venerable Denny Hall.

Students love the fireplace in the lobby of the business school, while the historic building harbors its own treat in the main hall: 39 paintings presented as a gift from the National Museum of Art at Tirana, Albania.

Picturesque Jacobsen Observatory is nearby, a quaint reminder of days when Seattle's skies were sufficiently dark to permit astronomy. Across the street is the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, a signature tourist draw on campus. Limited space restricts the Burke to three exhibits: people of the Pacific, treasures of Washington and a display that changes every few months, so the museum is in the early stages of planning an expansion to display more of its 15 million artifacts.

More

Look for Burke artifacts elsewhere around campus, including the cast of a 28-foot Pleistocene fossil crocodile in the Kenneth S. Allen Library.

The William H. Gates Law School is next door to the Burke. The first floor hall has the Jeffrey and Susan Brotman Galleria, which displays contemporary work of Seattle artists, with Christina Carlyle Reed featured now.

The law school's modern art fits the style of the building, but to see the university's true showcase of contemporary art, head south to nearby Henry Gallery. The state's first public art gallery has been making visitors re-examine their ideas of what constitutes art since it opened in 1927.

Meany Hall, the main performing arts venue on campus, is on the other side of the George Washington statue from the Henry Gallery. The pedestal-mounted statue is a favorite among many art icons on campus, ever since it was unveiled in 1909 for the world's fair.

By now, a visitor may be too worn out to continue exploring, so cross busy 15th Avenue on a pedestrian footbridge and delve into one of the scores of ethnic restaurants along University Way.

Surprises hidden away

That quarter-pie northwest circuit covers the campus pretty well, but there is more. The Husky Union Building, which sees 3 million people walk through its doors each year, underwent an $87 million remodel a year ago.

Visitors should also see Drumheller Fountain, a design legacy of the 1909 world's fair that frames Mount Rainier Vista, at the heart of the Science Quad. Other musts: Burke-Gilman Trail (Seattle's famous long-distance bike corridor), Bhutan book (one of the world's largest books, in Suzzallo Library), Husky trophy room (still celebrating coach Don James national championship football success in 1991) and UW Botanic Gardens (across the ship canal).

And before long, in 2016, the campus will have an underground light rail station at Husky Stadium with service to downtown and the airport.

UW campus

Get there:

When driving, turn south from Northeast 45th Street onto 15th Avenue. Drive two blocks and look for the entry on the left for the massive underground Central Plaza Parking Garage. Take the elevator to the surface to the busiest part of campus. Parking is $12 for the day.

Bus:

UW has direct bus service from many parts of the metro area. Routes 71 through 74 go from downtown to the university district;

.

Lodging:

Hotel Deca (206-634-2000,

), 4507 Brooklyn Ave. N.E., is the largest close to campus; smaller hotels are in the area, but most lodging is in downtown Seattle; 866-732-2695,

.

Dining:

University Way, one block west of campus, has dozens of ethnic restaurants; food services are widely available on campus, including Vista Cafe in the William H. Foege Building overlooking Portage Bay.

Campus info:

The UW Visitor Center is on the main floor of Odegaard Library, directly above the main parking garage; 206-543-9198;

.

Even if a visitor sees all that, there are still some secret gems, among them the 1930s wind tunnel and a repository for 8 million fish parts.

Knock on the door of Kirsten Wind Tunnel and whoever answers will provide a tour, if they aren't too busy.

Matt Bolte, an engineering undergrad from Oak Harbor, calls it a "low-speed wind tunnel," 200 mph max. Nevertheless, many a Boeing jet and Olympic athlete have been tested in it. So was the Space Needle, or at least a model of it. The 14-foot diameter blades that create the wind, crafted from Honduran mahogany, work to the same specs as when the tunnel opened 80 years ago.

The

fish collection is stored in a newer part of campus, near the edge of Portage Bay at the Fisheries Teaching Research Center. Visitors can get there by walking through the vast UW Medical Center, but displays noting the work of five Nobel laureates in physiology or medicine may slow the pace.

The fish collection grew from a faculty interest in the Pacific waters around Bikini Atoll. The collection focuses more now on fish of the north Pacific and western North American rivers. Federal agencies that collect and study fish send them to UW for storage and further research.

Katherine Maslenikov keeps track of the fish parts, mostly stored in jars on rolling shelves, like those used by libraries. The collection has 350,000 adult fish, with eggs and jaws making up the rest.

A fish jaw is like a tree ring, Maslenikov said, yielding information on year-to-year growing conditions. Researchers from around the world order what they want to study as they perform climate change research.

In the next building, another fish display isn't nearly so macabre. It's a colorful mural, named Fishes of the Salish Sea, with portraits of 110 fish that live in the saltwaters off Seattle (plus one professor).

In other ocean research, the oceanography lab is installing a $29 million underwater observatory, the world's largest. You won't be able to visit it on the bottom of the Pacific, but will be able to observe its work via the Internet.

-- Terry Richard

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