University of San Diego Magazine 75th Anniversary 2024

[Q] How did your office come to be the A: Terry Whitcomb was given the role as the first director of University Design in the mid-1980s. After the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science building was built, there wasn’t a lot of money, despite fundraising and donor names on the building. When Terry visited the space, she was aghast. The building had wicker furniture and things that were not Spanish. She wrote a long, handwritten memo to President Hughes to tell him this was against everything Mother Hill envisioned. We needed to maintain the design consistency of the campus. Hughes then appointed her director of design. The Manchester Executive Conference Center and Olin Hall were her first foray in the new role. She was also teaching art history. I was a student of hers. I remember being taken with the role she had. I recall, very distinctly, her coming in to give a lecture. She was all dressed up, carrying a basket with a bell that jingled. She threw down the basket, pulled out a tile and asked us, “Does this look blue to you?” She was holding up a teal-colored tile. ‘This is not blue.’ She had come from a meeting about Olin Hall. She had to give a lecture, but she was going on about this tile piece. I thought, “Wow, what a fascinating thing she does.” stewards of maintaining this aesthetic?

Mother Hill looking to the University of Alcalá, in Spain, as an influence is part of the Spanish Renaissance architectural style decision, but also it is the burial place for Saint Didacus, San Diego, for whom our city is named. It is a style used in some buildings in Balboa Park. [Q] What USD building best exemplifies this style? A: The best example on campus is The Immaculata's facade. It’s this shallow relief of plateresque style highlighting the entrance. It calls you to the entrance of the building. As you get around the sides and the back, it simplifies. You don’t see articulation, but you do see the windows and pediments, some of them repeating themselves, the deeper windows to create shadow, the sense of weight and the human scale of these buildings. The Immaculata is an exception in that you want the exuberance of reaching for the sky; a being closer-to-God feel.

Above, a sketch

of decorative panel

by Edgar V. Ullrich

(1893 -1958),

produced for

the university

administration

center/diocesan

chancery.

“ It’s what you want to attract the students, to have them feel a sense of home, a sense of learning, a sense of timelessness. ” [Q] How are these elements reflected in the original buildings?

A: The way I look at Founders and Camino [Halls] — the original College for Women buildings — is that you go in the two-story buildings that are a more personal scale. It’s what you want to attract the students, to have them feel a sense of home, a sense of learning, a sense of timelessness. Part of the Spanish style is these open courtyards, the arcades and all of the different elements. There are so many things that resonate with the Spanish Renaissance that go back to the consistency of the harmonious aesthetic our campus has.

To the right,

Mother Rosalie

Clifton Hill, RSCJ

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