College Hall - Revision history

Pacman: /* King's College (1756-1783) */

2024-05-06T18:45:28Z

‎King's College (1756-1783)

Jjazz76: /* Images */

2021-03-21T20:36:58Z

‎Images

Pacman: /* Images */

2013-05-31T03:50:33Z

‎Images

Admin at 22:08, 26 May 2013

2013-05-26T22:08:51Z

Absentminded at 06:04, 10 May 2013

2013-05-10T06:04:43Z

Absentminded at 05:52, 10 May 2013

2013-05-10T05:52:05Z

Reaganaut at 15:39, 22 November 2012

2012-11-22T15:39:08Z

Reaganaut at 15:33, 22 November 2012

2012-11-22T15:33:33Z

Pacman: /* Columbia College (1784-1857) */

2012-10-17T19:20:56Z

‎Columbia College (1784-1857)

Pacman: /* Columbia College (1784-1857) */

2012-10-17T19:20:01Z

‎Columbia College (1784-1857)

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 In [[1767]] the [[trustees]] (then known as the 'governors') successfully petitioned the city to develop and lease its "water lots" - the land extending 200 feet into the Hudson River from the property's shoreline. This effectively doubled the land owned by the College and provided a tidy rental income.
-On April 6, [[1776]] King's College was closed by order of a Revolutionary Committee of Safety and College Hall was confiscated for use as a Continental Army Hospital. By September, the Continental Army was driven from New York City and the British army took over College Hall as a hospital, and continued to use it as such until their withdrawal in November of [[1783]].
+On [[April 6]], [[1776]], during the [[Revolutionary War]], King's College was closed by order of a Revolutionary Committee of Safety and College Hall was confiscated for use as a Continental Army Hospital. By September, the Continental Army was driven from New York City and the British army took over College Hall as a hospital, and continued to use it as such until their withdrawal in November of [[1783]].
 == Columbia College (1784-1857) ==

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 Image:CollegeHallCornerstone.jpg|Cornerstone
 Image:KingsCrown.jpg|King's College Crown
-Image:CollegeHallPlaque.jpg|A picture of a plaque the trustees had installed near the site of College Hall in 1898. The memorial does not appear to have survived to present day.
+Image:CollegeHallPlaque.jpg|A picture of a plaque the trustees had installed near the site of College Hall in 1898. This memorial plaque can still be found on the building located at the northeast corner of Park Place and West Broadway about 15 feet in from the corner.
 </gallery>

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 <gallery>
 Image:PalmTreePrint.jpg| The Palm Tree Print [[1763]]
 Image:1800s.gif‎|In the early 1800s
 Image:1828.jpg|In [[1828]]

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 [[Image:1790.jpg|thumb|240px|College Hall in [[1790]]]]
 [[Image:NYCMap1842.jpg|thumb|200px|New York City in 1842. College Hall can be seen on the lower left, numbered 18 on the map]]
 '''College Hall''' was the first home of [[King's College]] (if you don't count the [[Trinity Church schoolhouse]]) and, later, [[Columbia College]]. It was built in [[1760]] near City Hall Park in [[Lower Manhattan]], and demolished in [[1857]] when Columbia moved to the [[Midtown campus]]. Its cornerstone is now located in the [[Trustees' Room]] of [[Low Library]]. It was the only building ever constructed on Columbia's '''Park Place campus.'''

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 '''College Hall''' was the first home of [[King's College]] (if you don't count the [[Trinity Church schoolhouse]]) and, later, [[Columbia College]]. It was built in [[1760]] near City Hall Park in [[Lower Manhattan]], and demolished in [[1857]] when Columbia moved to the [[Midtown campus]]. Its cornerstone is now located in the [[Trustees' Room]] of [[Low Library]]. It was the only building ever constructed on Columbia's '''Park Place campus.'''
-College Hall was built on a five acre gift of land deeded by [[Trinity Church]]<ref>Specifically, the gift was from "The Rectors et al of the Church of England to the Governors et al. of the College of the Province of New York" and was made on 15 May [[1755]]</ref> that was bounded by what are now Church, Murray, Barclay, and what is now Greenwich Streets. At the time, the deed more or less extended up to the waterfront of the [[Hudson River]], and the building was a landmark of the New York City landscape, as captured in the "[[Palm Tree Print]]". The five acre property became known as the "'''Lower Estate'''" so as to distinguish it from the later-acquired [[Upper Estate]].
+College Hall was built on a five acre gift of land deeded by [[Trinity Church]]<ref>Specifically, the gift was from "The Rectors et al of the Church of England to the Governors et al. of the College of the Province of New York" and was made on 15 May [[1755]]</ref> that was bounded by what are now Church, Murray, Barclay, and what is now Greenwich Streets. At the time, the deed extended up to the waterfront of the [[Hudson River]], and the building was a landmark of the New York City landscape, as captured in the "[[Palm Tree Print]]". The five acre property became known in Columbia records as the "'''Lower Estate'''" so as to distinguish it from the later-acquired [[Upper Estate]].
 == King's College (1756-1783) ==
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 In [[1853]] the trustees voted to get away from the seediness of commerce, but couldn't decide whether to move onto the [[Upper Estate]] or somewhere else. In June 1856 the trustees got wind that the New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb on 49th and Madison was up for sale for $100,000. The trustees, New York businessmen through and through, knew a good deal when they saw it and struck. They negotiated the price down to $63,000 and bought the property and its buildings on October 6, [[1856]]. On February 2, [[1857]] they turned around and sold the land under College Hall in 13 lots for $596,350, turning one hell of a profit in the process. Even better, they still maintained ownership of the rest of the Lower Estate, having only sold most of just one of the four blocks city blocks comprising the property.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=PTc4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA73#v=onepage&q&f=false Charters, Acts of the Legislature, Official Documents and Records], Pg. 72, compiled by John B. Pine (1920).</ref> The New York Institution land went on to become the [[Midtown campus]]. The trustees used some of the profits to tidy up the [[Upper Estate]] property into 216 lots, which would provide a steady rental income to the school for almost 130 years - the most famous tenant being [[Rockefeller Center]].
-== Legacy of College Hall ==
+== Legacy of College Hall and the Lower Estate==
 On May 5, 1857, 3 months shy of its 101st birthday, a farewell ceremony was held for College Hall and its cornerstone disinterred in preparation for its impending demolition. The cornerstone was subsequently built into the mantle of the fireplace in the Trustees Room of [[Low Library]] on the [[Morningside Heights campus]], where it can be seen today. Above the same fireplace hangs the original copper [[King's Crown (symbol)|King's Crown]], which graced the weather vane atop College Hall before the [[Revolutionary War]]. One additional tribute to Columbia's first dedicated home can be found in [[Hamilton Hall]], where an image of the building's cupola and the date '1756' appear on the frieze in the lobby.
 == Images ==

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 *[http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/stand_columbia/TimelineECC.htm F2 Early Columbia College Timeline, 1784-1857]
-[[Category:Campuses]]
+[[Category:Old campuses]]
 [[Category:Demolished buildings]]

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 Throughout the 1840s the neighborhood surrounding College Hall became increasingly commercial, dominated by warehouses and shops. Columbia itself leased many of the lots around College Hall for rental income.
-In [[1853]] the trustees voted to get away from the seediness of commerce, but couldn't decide whether to move onto the [[Upper Estate]] or somewhere else. In June 1856 the trustees got wind that the New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb on 49th and Madison was up for sale for $100,000. The trustees, New York businessmen through and through, knew a good deal when they saw it and struck. They negotiated the price down to $63,000 and bought the property and its buildings on October 6, [[1856]]. On February 2, [[1857]] they turned around and sold the land under College Hall in 13 lots for $596,350, turning one hell of a profit in the process. The trustees used some of the profits to tidy up the [[Upper Estate]] property into 216 lots, which would provide a steady rental income to the school for almost 130 years - the most famous tenant being [[Rockefeller Center]].
+In [[1853]] the trustees voted to get away from the seediness of commerce, but couldn't decide whether to move onto the [[Upper Estate]] or somewhere else. In June 1856 the trustees got wind that the New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb on 49th and Madison was up for sale for $100,000. The trustees, New York businessmen through and through, knew a good deal when they saw it and struck. They negotiated the price down to $63,000 and bought the property and its buildings on October 6, [[1856]]. On February 2, [[1857]] they turned around and sold the land under College Hall in 13 lots for $596,350, turning one hell of a profit in the process. The New York Institution land went on to become the [[Midtown campus]]. The trustees used some of the profits to tidy up the [[Upper Estate]] property into 216 lots, which would provide a steady rental income to the school for almost 130 years - the most famous tenant being [[Rockefeller Center]].
 == Legacy of College Hall ==

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 They school set out to expand College Hall with a new western wing in [[1795]]. Construction took 11 years and was so shoddy that the wing was never used and eventually crumpled.
-By [[1813]], expansion plans were afoot again. Alum [[James Renwick|James Renwick, Sr.]] designed an ambitious scheme to expand on the site. But pressure was mounting for Columbia to move uptown, and the state legislature managed to extract a promise by Columbia that it would do so by [[1826]] as a condition of providing funding for construction. However, the college managed to find private funding for a more modest on-site expansion scheme than Renwick's, and stayed put.<ref>http://www.scup.org/asset/62643/HindsightForesight.pdf</ref>
+By [[1813]], expansion plans were afoot again. Alum [[James Renwick|James Renwick, Sr.]] designed an ambitious scheme to expand on the site. But pressure was mounting for Columbia to move uptown, and the state legislature managed to extract a promise by Columbia that it would do so by [[1826]] as a condition of providing funding (in [[1814]], they provided Columbia the [[Upper Estate]], an overgrown botanical garden developed by former Columbia professor [[David Hosack]], in lieu of such payment). However, the college managed to find private funding for a more modest on-site expansion scheme than Renwick's, and stayed put.<ref>http://www.scup.org/asset/62643/HindsightForesight.pdf</ref>
 Between [[1817]] and [[1820]] two 50' x 50' wings were added to College Hall at a cost of $80,000. By this time the building had reverted back to faculty residences and instruction space. Columbia would not provide student housing again until the move to [[Midtown campus|midtown]].