Founded in 1884 with initial campuses in Downtown and Central Los Angeles, Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Southern California.

The school started operations on July 19, 1884, focusing on educating Los Angeles residents in the areas of business, including bookkeeping, commercial law, and telegraphy.

In 1937, Woodbury moved to its final Central Los Angeles campus was located at 1027 Wilshire Boulevard in the Westlake district under the presidency of R. H. Whitten.

The campus was a Streamline Moderne building designed by Claud Beelman, and was constructed in order to help with the growing student body.

In September 1985, the university announced their plans to relocate their campus in the next year after purchasing the site of the former Villa Cabrini Academy.

[5] That same year, the majors of psychology, politics & history and liberal arts & business were added to their curriculum.

In 1998, the university opened a satellite campus in downtown San Diego, offering degrees in architecture.

In September 2012, the month after she had reported the alleged incidents to the human resources department, Nielsen was fired and filed a lawsuit against the university.

[13] Woodbury's campus is a 22.4-acre (9.1 ha) suburban campus at 7500 North Glenoaks Boulevard, which was previously used by Villa Cabrini Academy, an all-girls high school founded by Frances Xavier Cabrini ran by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

[21] The Julius Shulman Institute is part of Woodbury's School of Architecture, with its mission being to promote "understanding and appreciation of photography of the built environment".

[22] The institute was founded in 2005 by Julius Shulman from a financial endowment, choosing the university because of his interest in education.

[23] The institute annually gives the Excellence in Photography Award to photographers, with prior awardees being Iwan Baan, Pedro E. Guerrero, Catherine Opie, Hélène Binet and James Welling.

South Hall is one of the original buildings acquired with the Burbank campus and was used as a dormitory for the Villa Cabrini Academy.