Mudd House, formerly known as Wydown Residence Hall, was part of a $12.4 million residence hall project, which included two new residence halls and a $1.1 million multilevel parking garage.
The two residence halls, Mudd and Park House, were known as the Wydown House before the West building was dedicated as the Hellen Ette Park House. These five-story halls are connected via a ground-floor corridor, and are each 128,000 square feet.
At the time of construction in 1989-90, they were considered the most advanced residence halls in the country, each with an exercise room, four music practice rooms with pianos, and a multipurpose room with food service facilities. Each floor has a kitchenette and laundry room, and each room has either four single rooms or two double rooms.
The Seeley Greenleaf Mudd Foundation
Mudd House is named after the Seeley Greenleaf Mudd Foundation. The Mudd name was originally on the Seeley Greenleaf Mudd Hall, the old building for the School of Law. The name was transferred to Mudd house on June 10, 1998. Two days later, demolition on Mudd Hall began. In the space once occupied by Mudd Hall, the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center now stands.
Seeley Greenleaf Mudd was born April 18, 1895 in Denver, Colorado. He earned a BS in mining engineering in 1917 from Columbia University. From there, he went on to earn an MD from Harvard University in 1924. He went to practice cardiology in Los Angeles. Later, as a professor at the California Institute of Technology, Mudd researched radiation and X-ray therapy. He served as the dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Southern California from 1941 to 1943.
In addition to being a prominent cardiologist, Seeley G. Mudd was a dedicated philanthropist. During his life, he dedicated over $10 million, and upon his death in 1968, he donated another $44 million to setup the Seeley Greenleaf Mudd Foundation. Numerous other universities across the nation have benefited from his generosity.