This is the first of a series of blog posts I’ll introduce periodically, most often when I’m too busy (such as I am now) to compose an entry requiring more time than I can afford. The focus of each post will be a landmark building here in Eugene. Many of these will be familiar to most who live here but there are likely to be a few buildings that are less so. My selection criteria for each will be threefold:
- The building must be of architectural interest, local importance, or historically significant.
- The building must be extant so you or I can visit it in person.
- Each building’s name will begin with a particular letter of the alphabet, and I must select one (and only one) for each of the twenty-six letters. This is easier said than done for some letters, whereas for other characters there is a surfeit of worthy candidates (so I’ll be discriminating and explain my choice in those instances).
To provide the back history and descriptions of each building, I’ll draw heavily upon available resources, such as Wikipedia, the 1983 book Style & Vernacular, and the National Register of Historic Places.
First up (surprise) is the letter A, for which Autzen Stadium is my selection.
Autzen Stadium
Autzen Stadium is the home of the University of Oregon Ducks football team. Completed in 1967 with an original capacity of just over 41,000 spectators, the seating bowl was built in nine short months within an economical landfill. The resulting building resembled a natural butte more than it did a building, which I always considered fitting within the geographic context of the southern Willamette Valley. The simple ramped circulation system avoided the mazelike confusion typical of many other college and professional venues. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the facility and Gale M. Roberts Co. constructed Autzen Stadium for $2.3 million, undoubtedly a modest sum even for that time.
Surprisingly, the University and boosters seriously considered enclosing Autzen under a dome back in the mid-eighties, but a lack of funds killed that plan. In my opinion, Duck fans dodged a bullet since much of each gameday is uniquely shaped by the hour of the kickoff and the vagaries of fall weather (notwithstanding the fact, in stadium announcer Don Essig’s inimitable words, “it never rains in Autzen Stadium”). It can be blisteringly hot at the start of the home schedule (sitting on the north side of the stadium like I do) and numbingly cold by the end of the season, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
In 2002, a $90 million south-side expansion designed by Ellerbe Beckett (now part of AECOM) increased the seating capacity to its current 54,000 and added luxury boxes. Regardless, Autzen Stadium remains small by the standards of bigtime college football. I’m always amazed by how compact and intimate it feels, which undoubtedly contributes to the intensity of the experience spectators enjoy.
In no small part due to its physical configuration, Autzen is notorious as one of the loudest and most intimidating (for visiting teams) stadiums in all of college football. J. Brady McCullough, a reporter for The Michigan Daily, famously dispatched the following account in the wake of a 2003 defeat suffered in Eugene by the Michigan Wolverines, at the time a perennial powerhouse:
"Sitting in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, Oregon's Autzen Stadium is one of college football's hidden jewels. Before kickoff, Autzen is as peaceful as the Willamette River, which runs through Eugene just a few minutes from the stadium. After kickoff, the fans–even the alumni–forget who they are, where they come from and what their degree is in. The audience adopts a new collective identity for the next three-and-a-half hours: the 12th, 13th and 14th man. Autzen's 59,000 strong make the Big House collectively sound like a pathetic whimper. It's louder than any place I've ever been, and that includes "The Swamp" at Florida, "The Shoe" in Columbus, and "Death Valley" at Louisiana State. Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die."
As a green & yellow, dyed-in-the-wool Oregon alumnus and fan, I’m happy my Ducks’ home turf resides in Autzen Stadium. Its architecture is unique in all of college football. From the moment I first stepped inside during my UO college days, I knew it was a special place.
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