USC Village - Hecuba Meets Tommy

A stop on USC Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Cross Jefferson Boulevard and you step into USC Village, the largest development in the university's history. It opened in August 2017 on a 15-acre site that had been a tired 1970s shopping center. The 700 million dollar project houses about 2,500 students in residential colleges built around private courtyards, while the ground floor is lined with shops, a grocery store and restaurants that anyone can visit.

The architecture deliberately borrows from the old campus across the street, with brick, arches and towers, so the Village reads as part of USC rather than a separate complex.

At the center of the main piazza stands Hecuba, Queen of Troy, by sculptor Christopher Slatoff. She was commissioned as a counterpart to Tommy Trojan and rises more than 20 feet including her base. Around the pedestal, six female figures represent the diversity of today's students. The sculptor saw the queen as a symbol of USC arming its students with education.

Grab a coffee and sit by the fountain to watch student life go by.

Getting here: Walk back east on 34th Street to Trousdale Parkway, head north out of the campus gate, and cross Jefferson Boulevard at the light. The Hecuba statue is in the central piazza straight ahead.

Did you know?: Sculptor Christopher Slatoff also made the statue of USC founder Robert Widney that stands outside Widney Alumni House, a later stop on this walk.

Photo op: Stand at the edge of the piazza and shoot upward so Hecuba stands against the sky between the Village towers.

More on Wikipedia: Hecuba · Tommy Trojan

USC Village - Hecuba Meets Tommy

Stops on this tour