Stop 5 of 6
North Grounds
A Modern Professional Campus
Audio guide — Stop 5: North Grounds (2:43)
The narration follows the text and image descriptions on this page.
Years before baseball games or track meets at UVA’s current athletic fields, the Law School sought that space for its first move away from Central Grounds. By the mid-1960s, the Law School had outgrown Clark Hall. The faculty and student body had tripled in size since the building’s opening. University administration proposed a controversial solution: relocate the Law School, the graduate business school, and the Judge Advocate General’s School to Copeley Hill—a mile and a half north of the Rotunda.
The University’s recent acquisition of land north of Route 29 opened many possibilities for locating this new complex. In the plan here, University officials envisioned the schools as close to Central Grounds as possible with expanded commuter parking. Later drafts placed the Law School at the future John Paul Jones Arena site. The new professional school complex was ultimately built north of the area shown here, at the Law School’s present location.
Plan for a future law and business complex on Copeley Hill by the UVA Planning Department, circa 1967, UVA Facilities Management Resource Center.
Image description
A planning diagram showing a proposed campus complex within a broad landscape, with a sectional drawing of the complex across the top of the sheet. Roads curve through the site, connecting academic buildings, parking areas, and open green spaces. The buildings are separated from one another rather than consolidated into a single complex. Large parking lots occupy a significant portion of the drawing, reflecting the growing importance of automobile access.
In the proposed schematic, notice:
- The complex was situated on today’s athletic grounds. The site covers UVA’s current baseball and softball fields, track complex, and soccer and lacrosse stadium. Faulkner House, pictured in the top left of the drawing, is the current Miller Center.
- Parking was a priority. This plan included space for 1,625 cars.
- The plan emphasized multiple detached structures. Unlike the all-inclusive law building that was ultimately constructed, this complex had specialized buildings for learning, living, and administration.
What was built
Aerial view of the law and business schools on UVA’s North Grounds by Steve West, 1980, UVA Law Library.
Image description
An aerial photograph from 1980 showing the completed North Grounds professional complex from above. Two large academic buildings sit parallel to each other among roads, parking lots, and landscaped open space. The complex sits apart from the University’s historic core and is surrounded by rolling terrain and wooded areas. The image conveys the scale of the Law and Business schools’ move to a modern professional campus.