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I'm writing a paper on architecture in academic settings, specifically in the North East. What colleges in the North East to you all find to be the most attractive? What do you like about them? This is purely aesthetic. I would really appreciate your input. Thanks.

By Isacc (Isacc) on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 03:35 pm: Edit

the big green at dartmouth!!

By Happystudent (Happystudent) on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 04:33 pm: Edit

Yes, I liked Dartmouth the most too. What about the other Ivy League schools?

By Siriuswishbear (Siriuswishbear) on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 05:38 pm: Edit

Swarthmore was VERY pretty!! :-D

By Fiza (Fiza) on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 08:25 pm: Edit

I wanna go to Dartmouth too. But they'll never take me...

C'est la vie.

By Ksolo (Ksolo) on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 10:45 pm: Edit

College of the Holy Cross. Definitely beautiful.

USCD, I think in Santa Cruz? Has a beautiful campus too. Oh wait, that's in the West Coast. Not northeast, hah! Holy Cross is in the Northeast though.

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 11:23 pm: Edit

Williams is amazing.

By Fiza (Fiza) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 12:12 am: Edit

I hear Elon is pretty.

By Jens (Jens) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 02:28 pm: Edit

Stanford in the rich, ritzy kind of way.

By Jens (Jens) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 02:29 pm: Edit

Sorry I didn't see "Northeast". Never mind about Stanford.

By Haon (Haon) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 02:37 pm: Edit

Williams and Middlebury are, IMO the two pretties schools.

Architecture-wise, Williams has a fairly eclectic architecture on campus, but it blends together very well.

Middlebury is all Vermont grey stone...both are set in the mountains.

Swarthmore is nice (and some areas are amazing), but overall I wouldn't list it quite as pretty as either WIlliams or Midd.

Dartmouth is ok... nice and pretty but overrated if anything.

By Wisconsinguy (Wisconsinguy) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 07:49 pm: Edit

Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth. Princeton mainly for the chapel and beauty of the campus grounds, Yale for the Oxford-style architecture, and Dartmouth for the simple, New England-style charm.

By Haon (Haon) on Monday, November 03, 2003 - 12:48 am: Edit

Yale is very nice (some of my favorite architecture), but in a fairly lousy city.

Princeton has very nice architecture spread out nicely.

By Arcadia (Arcadia) on Monday, November 03, 2003 - 09:22 am: Edit

Middlebury gets my vote.

Middlebury is one of the few colleges with a consistent architectural style--all buildings (except for 2) are built of limestone, granite, or marble in the old New England mill style. In fact, the noted architect Robert Venturi, upon setting foot on Middlebury's campus, was quoted as saying, "If anyone had told me that gray stone boxes set in lawns could be so beautiful, I would have said they were crazy. Middlebury looks like what everyone thinks an American campus should be but seldom is..."

Check out these pics:

http://www.pbase.com/image/21868772/large

http://www.pbase.com/image/21875289/medium

By Sopranosmom (Sopranosmom) on Monday, November 03, 2003 - 05:13 pm: Edit

Williams -- a nice electic group of buildings that somehow works -- especially with the mountains around them!

By Rogerevans (Rogerevans) on Monday, November 03, 2003 - 05:28 pm: Edit

Cornell is, I think, the prettiest of all, certainly for its natural beauty, gorges and lakes, surrounding hills, etc. Architecture is mostly first-rate, but somewhat less consistent than neo-Gothic campuses like Yale. By way of disclosure, I attended Cornell, Harvard and Columbia but have also visited all other Ivies, Stanford, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, etc. and do not believe there is any more strikingly beautiful than Cornell.

By Chrisy (Chrisy) on Monday, November 03, 2003 - 05:35 pm: Edit

Cornell? I heard the reason that there are so many suicides is because of the campus!
What about Amherst?

By Haon (Haon) on Monday, November 03, 2003 - 08:09 pm: Edit

Cornell has a beautiful campus. However, I wouldn't say it's as consistantly beautiful as Middlebury or Williams--it has some definitely mediochre areas. Cornell has so many suicides because it has extreme amounts of pressure and is grey through most of the year.

Amherst has a nice campus. However, Amherst's campus is, in no way, comparible to Williams or Middlebury (or even Swarthmore). Amherst feels like it's in the suburbs more, and is definitely not nestled among the mountains like WIlliams and Middlebury are.

By Gk06 (Gk06) on Wednesday, November 05, 2003 - 02:54 am: Edit

Definitey Yale.

By Dmitrypetrovna (Dmitrypetrovna) on Wednesday, November 05, 2003 - 05:18 pm: Edit

Middlebury, Williams, Dartmouth, Yale.

By Lki (Lki) on Wednesday, November 05, 2003 - 09:45 pm: Edit

Yale is DEFINITELY not as amazing as P'Ton. I spent two weeks at Yale and though the gothic architecture is ok, it feels out of place among city streets. Princeton has a much more clearly demarcated campus with beautiful greens. Also, the stone in the Princeton buildings is of a much lighter shade, so that it looks more cathedral and less castle-like

Just my $.2

By Lynch1000s (Lynch1000s) on Friday, November 07, 2003 - 06:51 pm: Edit

I haven't gone to any of the schools listed above, but Babson is a very "pretty" school.

By Lki (Lki) on Saturday, November 08, 2003 - 08:02 pm: Edit

bump

By Gk06 (Gk06) on Saturday, November 08, 2003 - 08:08 pm: Edit

"Yale is DEFINITELY not as amazing as P'Ton"
-overated obviously. Yale as amazing as Princeton, just not as pretty city. Yale is much more revered campus.

By L0serchild99 (L0serchild99) on Saturday, November 08, 2003 - 09:51 pm: Edit

i've heard princeton is pretty. yale is pretty nice too. brown is amazing.

and i know this isn't NE, but wisconsin- madison.

By Wheresyourpride (Wheresyourpride) on Saturday, November 08, 2003 - 10:23 pm: Edit

I think Harvard is beautiful in a very classic way.

By Mallorybee (Mallorybee) on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 12:04 pm: Edit

loyola college all the way baby!!! that place is gorgeous

By Curiousmom (Curiousmom) on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 12:42 pm: Edit

Wellesley is absolutely GORGEOUS!!

By Spyrey (Spyrey) on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 12:45 pm: Edit

CORNELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Ricanitalian69 (Ricanitalian69) on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 01:07 pm: Edit

Cornell is definitely one of the best looking campuses... Pace University Pleasantville/Briacliff Campus is very beautiful as well. Check out some of the pictures on http://appserv.pace.edu/execute/page.cfm?doc_id=155

By Unstuck (Unstuck) on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 08:17 pm: Edit

I'd have to say that Dartmouth, Princeton, and Middlebury are the most beautiful campuses I've seen. And Princeton DOES beat Yale. . . Better architecture, and Yale just seems amazingly claustrophobic. It's ALL walls!

By Good_Gal (Good_Gal) on Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 03:38 pm: Edit

What about Smith?

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Thursday, November 13, 2003 - 05:16 pm: Edit

Wellesley is nice - if you ignore the hideous science building!

By Dlaur (Dlaur) on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - 09:43 am: Edit

Kenyon College...more than 1000 acres with ancient classic Gothic architecture. Beautiful and serene.

By Antigone (Antigone) on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - 10:13 pm: Edit

I completely agree! Kenyon is my favorite! Are you applying there?

By Polly (Polly) on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 04:32 am: Edit

I really like classical structures, so Harvard is my favorite one. I currently live in California but have visited Harvard.
It was very beautiful... :D

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 10:53 am: Edit

Happystudent, I have a story to tell you about pretty campuses. When my husband and I were in college, our school which has a beautiful red brick colonial theme decided to build a modern, glass addition to the student center to break up this fake colonial look that they felt was a bit dated. It was the 20th century after all and other styles of architecture should be encouraged instead of staying in colonial mode. Well, they got their heads taken off. Nearly everyone hated the structure, alums, students, visitors, it was truly a fiasco. I agreed with the majority. I loved the red brick colonial look and atmosphere of this campus and felt that adding anything modern really detracted and distracted from a beautiful campus. To hell with Ayn Rand and the Fountainhead.
Fast forward 30 years. We visit this beautiful campus which has grown as many campuses have with many more new buildings including a new athletic center, arts center and adding on to existing structures. My kids first reaction, was "How boring. All red brick. And what's with this pseudo colonial? Why do they have pillars on building 10 times the size of any colonial structure, and enough with the brick." The large scale of the additions made a mockery of the architectual style which the college valiently tried to hang onto after they were so roundly critisized for their first (and last) foray into something different. When my kids saw the glass addition, they proclaimed it the only breath of fresh air in the whole ponderously colonial, red campus. And I had to reluctantly agree. The colonial theme went too far. There were even pillars in the open gymnasium areas ( UVA also does this) which looked ludicrous. A friend of my son narrowly rejected the school, in part because of this "vanilla" look. She wanted something of the same quality but more interesting looking, with more character, and she found it.
So defining what is pretty is so difficult to do. With the expansions all campuses are undergoing, there are always questions on the "look" the college wants. And the look the students want.

By Brownalum (Brownalum) on Tuesday, November 25, 2003 - 11:51 am: Edit

Yale is definitely the prettiest, architecturally. It was by far the most expensive campus ever built.

Also, it is located in the best college town. The downtown area of New Haven surrounding Yale used to be bad, but it has exploded in popularity and now has more bars, nightclubs, theaters, restaurants than all the other Ivy League areas combined, plus tons of new apartments under construction.

Wellesley and Princeton are close runners-up. I also like Mount Holyoke, Smith, Cornell, Williams, Hamilton, and Brown (the latter because I went there).

By Brownalum (Brownalum) on Tuesday, November 25, 2003 - 11:53 am: Edit

For a few hundred great pictures of the country's most beautiful campus (by a wide margin), see:

http://files.pubaf.yale.edu/.PortWeb?quickfind=&catalog=web&template=ComplexCollect

By Muzicgal04 (Muzicgal04) on Friday, November 28, 2003 - 08:12 pm: Edit

I'm sorry for all of you that think Yale is the prettiest college, but clearly you havent visited Swarthmore, Haverford, or Bryn Mawr. They are most certainly the three prettiest colleges in the country, as all three are aboreteums, not to mention being isolated from the bustle of city life.

By Haon (Haon) on Saturday, November 29, 2003 - 03:16 pm: Edit

Icch...Swarthmore has some pretty horrid dorms.

I'd put Middlebury and Williams above those three any day.

By Dranger_1 (Dranger_1) on Sunday, November 30, 2003 - 07:58 am: Edit

I vote for West Point. That place is amazing.

By Peterline (Peterline) on Sunday, November 30, 2003 - 01:03 pm: Edit

pepperdine

By Dschnapps (Dschnapps) on Monday, December 01, 2003 - 07:34 pm: Edit

I am from the West Coast and had heard that New Haven was a crappy, dangerous city and that the architecture was depressing and "all walls."

Well, I found the city to be a great place to walk around in, full of interesting things to do (as long as you know where not to go.)

The fortress-like Gothic architecture was actually a huge turn-on for me, but I guess that is a personal thing.

If anybody is going to New Haven in the near future, try Pepe's Pizza on Wooster St. It is delicioso.

By Brownalum (Brownalum) on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 04:12 am: Edit

"New Haven was a dangerous city"

Really? If you want DANGEROUS, try Philly, Detroit, Boston or Baltimore. Here are the 2002 Murder Rates (murders per 100,000 population).

New Orleans 55

Washington D.C. 45

Detroit 42

Baltimore 37

Newark 23

Chicago 22

Rochester 19

Philadelphia 18

Los Angeles 17

Syracuse 16

Dallas 14

Providence, RI 13

Houston 12

Indianapolis 11

Boston 10

(NATIONAL AVERAGE)

San Francisco 9

Denver 9

New York City 7

New Haven 6

Cambridge 6

Ann Arbor 4

By Ughstinkysocks (Ughstinkysocks) on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 06:43 pm: Edit

agnes scott definitely... it looks like Hogwarts from Harry Potter

By Sunnycagrl15 (Sunnycagrl15) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 01:27 am: Edit

OK this is definitely not northeast but i have to post this anyway....the University of San Diego in California is AMAZING.....its the most beautiful school i've ever seen, when i visited last year it took my breath away, any pictures you see of the campus hardly do it justice though....

By Tonyv (Tonyv) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 09:56 pm: Edit

I can't believe no one mentioned Vassar College. It's campus is a masterpeice, above Yale above Princeton.

By I1lmatics (I1lmatics) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 11:03 pm: Edit

Lehigh University.

By Gforce007 (Gforce007) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 11:42 pm: Edit

Elon is gorgeous. I just visited and the place looks like it was just built. It is stunning.

By Bobmcc (Bobmcc) on Monday, December 08, 2003 - 12:09 pm: Edit

Since we've clearly gone beyond the NEast...

1. The "old" campus at William & Mary
2. Grinnell (Iowa)
3. Davidson (NC)
4. for a big school..UNC-Chapel Hill
5. Mount Holyoke College

By Xdtish (Xdtish) on Monday, December 08, 2003 - 08:07 pm: Edit

I know you guys are talking about east coast schools, but personally, Washington U in ST.Louis, hands down, best campus..

By Goose (Goose) on Monday, March 01, 2004 - 08:49 pm: Edit

Oxford!!! My window looks out over a 15th century quad, with a 13th century chapel beyond it.

By The_G_Wall (The_G_Wall) on Friday, March 05, 2004 - 01:28 am: Edit

Middlebury has something magical about it. You feel at home, and you can almost breathe something in the air that has a magical quality to it. I'd rank it number one. Williams is nice, but Middlebury's got a slightly more stunning backdrop.

By Insertnamehere (Insertnamehere) on Saturday, April 24, 2004 - 10:37 pm: Edit

Princeton has the best campus of any college I've seen. Its a great mix of awesome cathedral style buildings and new-agey ones.