Founder's Hall was the first building built on the campus of

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

at 66th Street and York Avenue, in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Built between 1903 and 1906, it represents an instance of one of

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...

's largest scale efforts at

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, and housed the nation's first major biomedical research laboratory. Construction costs for Founder's Hall, which included an animal housing facility and a powerhouse, were $276,000. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1974. The building is now mainly used for school offices.

Description and history

Founder's Hall is located near the center of the campus of Rockefeller University on Manhattan's

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

, between the end of 66th Street and FDR Drive. It is a steel-framed five-story building, its exterior finished in gray brick with limestone trim. It has Classical Revival styling, with broad pilasters separating groups of window bays, and an entrance with a portico supported by Ionic columns. It was built in 1903 to a design by the architectural form Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge.

(1839–1937) amassed one of the greatest fortunes of the late 19th century in the oil business, from which he retired in 1897. His efforts at philanthropy were formally guided from 1891 by Frederick T. Gates, a Baptist minister who had previously (1889) recommended to Rockefeller that he establish the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. Much of Rockefeller's early philanthropy was on a comparatively small scale, and it was soon clear that larger-scale endeavors needed to be organized to properly guide his charitable giving. Gates suggested to Rockefeller that he establish a medical research institute that would be on a par with major European institutions of the period. In June 1902, Rockefeller made a commitment of $1 million to establish such an institute. In 1903 he purchased the former Schermerhorn estate, which is now the university's core campus. Founder's Hall was one of the first three buildings on the campus, housing its principal research laboratories.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York National Historic Landmarks in Manhattan School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan School buildings completed in 1906 University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Rockefeller University Upper East Side 1906 establishments in New York City 1900s architecture in the United States

Description and history

See also

References