Stanford Main Quad

The Main Quad is defined by its long, low-slung arcades of buff sandstone and red tile roofs, which enclose a series of connected courtyards at the center of the university. This was the vision of Jane and Leland Stanford, who began construction in eighteen eighty-seven to create a university in memory of their son, Leland Junior. They recruited landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to design the campus, resulting in a layout that departed from the closed, monastic quadrangles of Europe in favor of an open, welcoming space.