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Campus Club

Campus Club circa 1901

Campus Club circa 1901

Princeton University. Property of the Trustees of Princeton University.

Source: Bric-a-Brac, 1902, p.188

As with six other clubs, Campus Club - - founded in 1900 - - got its start in the fertile confines of the "Incubator." Campus moved into the Incubator shortly after Cannon Club moved out.


Campus Club circa 1908

Campus Club circa 1908

Princeton University. Property of the Trustees of Princeton University.

Source: Bric-a-Brac, 1908, p.136

Campus only stayed in the Incubator until 1901. In that year, Professor Andrew Fleming West moved out of his Colonial Revival house on the southeast corner of Washington Road and Prospect. This clapboard house, built in the 1880s, was designed to resemble the architecture of Colonial New England and featured a one- story entrance portico with Ionic columns, a small pediment with a fanlight, and a widow's walk on the roof.

Campus bought the West House in 1902, and in 1903 renovated and expanded the building to make it more suitable as a club. But Campus soon sought to have a more distinctive, purpose-built clubhouse.


Campus Club unbuilt project circa 1908

Campus Club unbuilt project circa 1908

Princeton University. Property of the Trustees of Princeton University.

Source: Bric-a-Brac, 1910, p.216

Around 1908, it began casting about for an appropriate design. At first, Campus seemed to have envisioned a grandiose clubhouse. An artist's rendering of a magnificent new structure projected a large brick building in the same Collegiate Gothic style of both Cap & Gown club as well as Campus's neighbors across Washington Road, 1879 Hall (built 1903) and Palmer Physical Laboratory (built 1907).

Among the interesting elements in this rendering are the large oriel window in the center of the western wing and a central courtyard around the entrance, a device that would reemerge in the design of Charter.


Campus club architect's rendering

Campus club architect's rendering

Princeton University. Property of the Trustees of Princeton University.

Source: Bric-a-Brac, 1911, p.230

The estimates for this design must have proved too costly for Campus, and in 1909 the club commissioned Raleigh Gildersleeve, architect of Cap & Gown and Elm, to provide another design. This time, Gildersleeve preserved the Collegiate Gothic style and choice of brick but rescaled the building to a more economical size.


Campus Club view from Northwest circa 1913

Campus Club view from Northwest circa 1913

Princeton University. Property of the Trustees of Princeton University.

Source: Bric-a-Brac, 1913, p.218

Inverting the basic floorplan used in Cap & Gown, Gildersleeve added a square entrance tower. The gables on the west and north facades echo the roof lines of 1879 Hall and Palmer Physical Laboratory.


Campus Club view from Northeast circa 1914

Campus Club view from Northeast circa 1914

Princeton University. Property of the Trustees of Princeton University.

Source: Bric-a-Brac, 1914, p.216

In a cost- saving measure, Gildersleeve used the foundations of the West house. Perhaps as a further economy, Gildersleeve did not repeat on Campus the intricate detailing found on the facade of Cap & Gown.

A serious fire occurred in November 1951 gutted the third floor of the club, which housed a dormitory for visitors and the steward's room. During the rebuilding from this disaster, Campus added a single-level, boxy wing to its east end.

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