Red Square, officially Central Plaza, is a large open square on the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

campus of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

that serves as a hub for two of the University's major axes, connecting the campus's northern

Liberal Arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

Quadrangle ("The Quad") with the science and engineering buildings found on the lower campus. The

plaza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. R ...

is paved with red brick, and becomes notoriously slippery during rain. During the 1909

Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition The Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, acronym AYP or AYPE, was a world's fair held in Seattle in 1909 publicizing the development of the Pacific Northwest. It was originally planned for 1907 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Klondike Go ...

, the square was the site for the temporary U.S. Government Building. After the exposition closed, the building was removed and the area left an open field that eventually became known as the Suzzallo Quadrangle, after

Suzzallo Library Suzzallo Library is the central library of the University of Washington in Seattle, and perhaps the most recognizable building on campus. It is named for Henry Suzzallo, who was president of the University of Washington until he stepped down in ...

, which stood at its eastern edge. In 1969, the field was excavated, an underground

parking garage A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

was built, and the engineers who designed the garage thought that the rain on the grass would leak into the garage, leading to the choice of a distinctive red brick surface. Cassandra Amesely, then an editor of the student paper '' The Daily'', convinced the student population to refer to the area as Red Square, presumably in reference to the color of the brick. Whether it was also meant to refer to Moscow's

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical bui ...

in an era known for

student activism Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political e ...

is unclear. The northwest area of the square is dominated by three brick

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

s, one of which was built to ventilate the underground garage, the other two being erected for aesthetic reasons. The northeast corner of the square features a version of

Barnett Newman Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American artist. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense of ...

's '' Broken Obelisk'' sculpture. The plaza is surrounded by the following buildings: *

to the east: the university's central

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

* Gerberding Hall to the southeast: university administration * Meany Hall to the southwest: performing arts facilities *

Odegaard Undergraduate Library The Charles E. Odegaard Undergraduate Library (OUGL) is a library on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It houses secondary stacks, a learning commons and on-campus technology resources for students, primarily under ...

to the northwest * Kane Hall to the northeast: lecture halls

External links

A shot of Red Square, refreshed every five minutes, from a camera atop Kane HallA similar view, this one a video still, refreshed every minute.
* {{coord, 47, 39, 21, N, 122, 18, 34, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-WA Squares in Seattle University of Washington campus