Vanderbilt Hall, Yale University (1894)

Vanderbilt Hall at Yale University is a U-shaped dormitory built in 1894. Part of Yale‘s Old Campus, it faces Chapel Street and was designed by Charles C. Haight to resemble a large Tudor gatehouse, as does the same architect’s Phelps Hall, which faces New Haven Green. Vanderbilt Hall replaced South College (Union Hall), built in 1793-1794, which was part of Yale’s famous Brick Row. The impressive building has a lavish interior, built to compete with the fancy private dormitories that lined the opposite side of Chapel Street at the time. Vanderbilt Hall was the gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt II to memorialize his son, William H. Vanderbilt II, who died of typhoid fever while in his junior year at Yale. Major renovations occurred in 1976, when the internal arrangement of the dorm rooms was reorganized. The building was again renovated in 1995-1996 and 2002.