Texas Christian University - Campus

Campus

TCU's campus sits on 272 acres (1.10 km2) of developed campus (325 acres total) which is located three miles (8 km) from downtown Fort Worth.

The TCU campus is roughly divided into three areas: a residential area, an academic area, and Worth Hills. The two main areas of campus, the residential and academic areas, are separated by University Drive, an oak-lined street which bisects the campus. Residence halls, the Student Union, and the Campus Commons are all located to the West of University Drive, while the library, chapel, and most academic buildings are located to the East of University Drive. All of TCU's surrounding streets are lined by live oaks.

A third area of campus, known as Worth Hills, lies to the west across Stadium Drive and adjacent the football stadium. Worth Hills is home to all of the university's fraternity and sorority houses, though plans to move all Greek housing to a new location have been underway for several years.

Roughly half of TCU undergraduate students live on campus. Housing is divided among 16 residence halls and on-campus apartment complexes. Students are required to live in an on-campus residence hall, most of which are co-ed, for at least their Freshman and Sophomore years, though many students choose to remain on-campus for their entire time at TCU.

The neo-classical beaux-arts architecture at TCU incorporates features consistent with much of the Art Deco-influenced architecture of older buildings throughout Fort Worth. Most of the buildings at TCU are constructed with a specially blended golden brick tabbed by brick suppliers as "TCU buff." Nearly all of the buildings feature red-tile roofs, while the oldest buildings on campus, including Jarvis Hall, Sadler Hall, and the Bailey Building, are supported by columns of various styles.

A notable exception to this rule is Robert Carr Chapel, which was the first building on campus to be constructed of bricks other than TCU buff. The chapel is built of a distinctive salmon-colored brick, a deviation that caused alumni to protest when the building opened in 1953.

TCU is home to the Starpoint School, a laboratory school for students with differences in grades 1-6. Starpoint's goal is to develop advanced educational techniques for helping students with learning disabilities. KinderFrogs School, an early-intervention laboratory pre-school for children with Down syndrome, is housed in the same building as Starpoint. TCU is the only university in the nation with two on-campus laboratory schools in special education. The laboratory schools, both programs of the College of Education, are located near Sherley Hall and Colby Hall.

Since 2006, much of the campus has been under construction and many buildings have been either renovated or replaced. The old Student Center was demolished in 2008 and replaced with Scharbauer Hall, which opened in 2010 and houses the bulk of AddRan College's offices and classrooms. Construction is also currently underway to renovate the dance building, and a new academic building for Brite Divinity School is currently being erected behind the Religion Complex. A major renovation of the library and a new residence hall are also planned. The seemingly perpetual renovation process has led some students and faculty to refer to TCU as "Texas Construction University."