The department grew slowly and focused strictly on architecture until the early 1940s, when a city planning curriculum was inaugurated.

Architecture and Urban Planning (now Urban Design and Planning) were established as separate departments within the CAUP by 1961; Landscape Architecture and Building Construction (now Construction Management) were established as departments later in the 1960s.

The College is housed in Gould Hall (named after Carl F. Gould, founder and first head of the Department of Architecture), Architecture Hall (constructed 1907–9 to serve as a chemistry building, but used during the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition as the Fine Arts Palace), and several smaller structures.

The College has multiple facilities for supporting the work of students, faculty, and staff, including the Fabrications Labs (a 6000 square foot facility with tools and equipment for wood and metal fabrication as well as CNC tools and equipment for digital fabrication), the Digital Commons (which houses Computing Services for the College), and the Visual Resources Collection.

Two interdisciplinary certificate programs are shared by multiple departments across the college: Urban Design and Historic Preservation.