Although medical classes began in Pavilion X in 1825, students could not work with actual patients until the construction of the first University hospital, which was built in several stages from 1899 through 1907. Paul Pelz, the architect of the nearby Randall Hall dormitory, designed a central administration building with a series of pavilion-like wards extending to either side paralleling the East Range.

After decades of continuous and rapid growth eastward, an entirely new satellite campus was chosen southeast of central grounds for the construction (1987-1989) of a hospital complex for the 21st century. The architects of the new University Hospital used white aluminum on the towering upper floors to help the building “disappear into the sky” and a brick base to refer to the University’s design vocabulary.