University of Florida Campus, Plaza of the Americas, University of Florida Campus Quad Bounded by West University Avenue, US 441/Southwest 13th Street, Stadium Road, and North-South Drive, Gainesville, Alachua County, FL

Significance: Plaza of the Americas is the historic core of the University of Florida. This open space was conceived with the original university master plan by architect William A. Edwards in 1905. The space exists, although no longer central, and has served as a human gathering place for more than one century. Olmsted Brothers firm in 1925 created a planting plan using trees and shrubs indigenous to Florida. The beauty of their plan was to create a shade esplanade along the edges of the space, linking the buildings surrounding the quadrangle, and leaving the center of the quadrangle open space. This is a small, intimate quadrangle, and the Olmsted Brothers planting design creates a Classically-inspired landscape architectural space of human scale. The Campus Historic District was entered on the National Registry of Historic Places April 20, 1989.
Survey number: HALS FL-5
Building/structure dates: 1905 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1925 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1931 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 89000322