Chapter two case Studies

Princeton University

Princeton, USA

In 1753 the trustees of the College of New Jersey – the name by which Princeton University was known for its first 150 years – reached a portentous decision to relocate the young institution. Founded in Elizabeth in 1746, then located in Newark, Prince-Town became the college’s permanent home in 1756, chosen for its seclusion ‘from the various temptations attending a promiscuous converse with the world, that theatre of folly and dissipation’.

Upon a four-acre plot, the college took root. Its layout tangibly differed from the organization of its colonial predecessors, resulting in a distinctive physical environment. Its first building was Nassau Hall, erected in 1756 (Figure 1.12). An enormous, single structure, Nassau Hall contained the whole community. All 150 students and professors ate and boarded, recited their lessons and prayers, and congregated for assemblies within its walls. An impressive, pedimented building,