Lagunita - Spanish for “little lake” - is named for the neighboring lake (now dry) and is one of Stanford’s most historic residences. This beautiful, Mediterranean-style complex, built in the 1930’s, originally consisted of six small houses, arranged around a picturesque central courtyard and dining commons. Lagunita Court is the first Stanford residence that combined founding landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision of student residences as individual cottages within the concept of a large-scale residence hall. Two of the original houses are now merged to house the Ujamaa community, two of the original houses have just been merged to officially form West Lagunita (Eucalipto and Granada) and two new houses were added in 2016, so that there are now six communities within Lagunita Court.

Lag (pronounced “log”) is divided into two sides: East Lag and West Lag. East Lag is home to Naranja, Ujamaa and Meier Hall.  Adelfa, Norcliffe and West Lagunita (the residence, not the region, which was previously divided into Eucalipto and Granada) make up West Lag. Residents enjoy common areas, courtyards, an outdoor trail that  encircles nearby Lake Lagunita and a grassy field (Roble Field) across the street. Lagunita Court is conveniently located across Santa Teresa St. from Roble Gym and the Arrillaga Outdoor Education and Recreation Center (AOERC).

The original house names are Spanish for different trees: Eucalipto (eucalyptus), Granada (pomegranate) and Naranja (orange); Adelfa is Spanish for oleander. Ujamaa is a Swahili name for “extended family” or “familyhood”, and consists of two houses originally called Olivo (olive) and Magnolia (magnolia). Ujamaa is home to our African-American theme program, focusing on the histories, issues and cultures of the Black Diaspora. Learn more about this program here. Throughout the larger residence, each individual house develops their own distinct community.

Two residences opened at Lagunita Court in Autumn 2016.  

• Meier Hall is named in honor of Stanford alumni Linda Meier '61 and Tony Meier '57. Linda is a longstanding community and civic leader, and Tony is a professional real estate developer and principal of The Meier Group. The Meiers have been volunteers at Stanford for decades, having served the university through several major fundraising campaigns as well as in the areas of undergraduate education, the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford Health Care, the Department of Athletics, and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
• Norcliffe Hall is named in honor of The Norcliffe Foundation, a private nonprofit family foundation established in 1952 by a Stanford alumnus.

For information on the accessibility of residences for both living and visiting, please reference our Undergraduate Residences Accessibility Summary chart.

Lagunita Houses