When Duke University was founded in 1924, the construction of its campus was the single largest Depression-era project in the United States. Two campuses emerged -- one built with Georgian red brick and the other with local stone and carved limestone details in the popular Collegiate Gothic style. Today Duke’s Georgian East Campus and neo-Gothic West Campus serve as the core of a 2,000-acre research, residential, academic and health care university.
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With more than 200 buildings situated on 8,470 acres of land (of which 7,200 acres is forested) it's easy to understand why, at its founding, Duke was deemed a "university in the forest." The goals and principles of its master plan conserve natural areas and limit construction to maintain the natural environment surrounding the campus. Visit Duke and you will immediately feel immersed in a "Gothic Wonderland" within the forest.
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Duke Chapel
A symbol of the university, Duke Chapel is at the center of the Gothic West Campus. Completed in 1932, the chapel is dominated by a 210-foot tower housing a 50-bell carillon. Washington Duke and his sons Benjamin and James are entombed in the Memorial Chapel. Duke Chapel hosts major university events, offers interdenominational worship services and contributes to the diverse campus religious life, which welcomes students of all faith
