Then and Now: Gates Woodruff Women's Studies Cottage

Name: Gates Woodruff Women’s Studies Cottage (originally Cottage #1)

Year built: 1884

Today: Women's Studies Program

Once Upon a Time: When the cottage was first built, it provided dining facilities for 100, sleeping rooms for 12, a bath and an office for the house chaperone. As sororities began to grow on campus around the turn of the 20th century, the cottage gradually changed from a dormitory into the women’s center and eventually was known as the Women’s Building. The Boulder YWCA was founded there and, later, the cottage became the office for the Dean of Women and was home to CU’s former Department of Home Economics.

Did you know: For many years the cottage was on the demolition list, but in 1993 a private fundraising effort was launched to complete a $1 million restoration project. A local women-owned architectural firm, Andrews & Andrews, P.C., was chosen to lead the historical renovation.

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Information and historic photos courtesy of CU Heritage Center; Colored photos by Patrick Campbell and Casey A. Cass/University of Colorado