Every day, thousands of students walk by the 113-year-old Collier House without realizing what it is or why it is still there.
“I know that it is across from the EMU,” said Courtney Taylor, an undergraduate at the University of Oregon. “I have heard of it but I don’t know what it is.”
Although few students know of its existence, the Collier House is one of the most historic buildings on campus. Not only has it housed multiple university presidents but it also, at one time, served as a restaurant, a pub, a library and even a dormitory.
The house was built in 1886 by UO physics professor George Collier and his family, and until 1893 it was one of only three buildings on campus including Deady Hall and Villard Hall. In 1896 Collier retired and sold the house to the university.
It was then decided that the house would be used as a library downstairs while the upstairs would house future presidents. Over the next 40 years, the upstairs of the house served as homes to two state chancellors and five university presidents, including Prince Lucien Campbell and Donald Erb, as well as transforming into a restaurant open to the public.
Similar to many of the UO buildings, the Collier House was only open exclusively to male faculty members until the 1960s. In fact, the house was open strictly for males until one day a female faculty member ate lunch at the house, not knowing of its exclusivity. It wasn’t until 1975 that the Collier House library and the Faculty Club Restaurant would be open to the public.
As the restaurant’s business began to dwindle in the early 1990s, a basement was built in the Collier House, and soon after, Clancy Thurber’s Pub was opened. It was a success for a short while but as the building began to age and renovations needed to be made, business was nearly impossible.
After many failed endowments were made asking the university for renovation funds, the board decided to close down the Collier House in the summer of 1999.
Now, the Collier House serves as classrooms for the music department and to host community events.