Brawner Hall - Business School and Douglass Hall
Photo © Scott Lincke
A stop on Menlo College Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.
Brawner Hall, in front of you, holds most of Menlo's business courses. It opened in fall 1969 as the home of the School of Business Administration, with classrooms, offices, a theater and a computer center. It is named for Virginia G. Brawner, mother of a chairman of the board. Business has been central here since 1949, when the business school became Menlo's first four-year program.
Just south, beyond the trees, is the neighboring campus of Menlo School, a separate private school that is not open to visitors. Its landmark is the white mansion long known as Douglass Hall. Inventor Leon Douglass, a founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company, bought it in 1921 and called it Victoria Manor after his wife. Menlo's trustees acquired the estate in the mid-1940s, and the school and college shared these grounds for decades. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake the mansion was restored and reopened in 1998 as Stent Family Hall.
Please enjoy that history from here, on the college side.
Getting here: From Florence Moore Hall, walk west along the path to the next building, Brawner Hall.
Did you know?: Leon Douglass is credited with the cabinet design that became the Victrola, and he also patented an early natural-color film process.
Photo op: Stand on the path in front of Brawner Hall and frame its entrance straight on.
Stops on this tour
- Admissions Building - Where Visits Begin
- Haynes-Prim Pavilion - Home of the Oaks
- Bowman Library - From Dining Hall to Study Hall
- The Quad - The Open Heart of Campus
- Florence Moore Hall - Science and New Ideas
- Brawner Hall - Business School and Douglass Hall
- Dining Hall and Student Union - Where Campus Gathers
- Wunderlich Field - Soccer and Softball
- Residence Halls - Arrillaga, Kratt, Howard and Michaels