McVickar Hall

McVickar Hall

McVickar Hall was a building on 113th Street between Broadway and Riverside Drive that was converted into the Columbia Alumni Center in 2009. The building was named for James McVickar, a member of Columbia's faculty in the mid-19th century. It was completed in 1906 to a design by Schwartz and Gross.

History

The building served as the home of the School of Social Work until August 2004 when the school's new building on 122nd and Broadway opened.

Proposed University Infirmary

After SSW's departure from the building, Columbia proposed converting McVickar into a full-fledged infirmary for the University, bringing Health Services and CPS under one roof and adding a radiology suite and pharmacy, eliminating the need for students to shuttle between John Jay Hall and St. Luke's Hospital for services. However, intense protests from the neighborhood, citing potential noise pollution and the threat of 'psychic emergencies', lead the university to abandon plans for the infirmary. Instead the University decided to convert the building into an alumni center, moving alumni offices from the Interchurch Center closer to campus.