Hamilton Hall

Hamilton Hall

Hamilton Hall

Hamilton Hall is the headquarters of Columbia College, and as such holds the office of the College Dean, the Admissions Office and the office of the Core Curriculum. Hamilton is also home to a number of humanities departments, and is where many humanities classes, especially those in the Core Curriculum, are held. The building is named after famed Columbia dropout Alexander Hamilton, whose visage graces a smart statue out front.

History

When the University moved to Morningside Heights in 1897, it 'forgot' to dedicate any of the buildings on the campus to the College. When a building was requested, they were basically told to "get your own." The alumni hemmed and hawed and despite lots of talk, couldn't come up with the money (a recurring theme in Columbia history. See: University Hall, Morningside Park Gym.) Eventually some New York philanthropist who isn't even connected to Columbia donated the money to erect a building. His name is inscribed on the floor of Hamilton's lobby. By this point there wasn't even any space left on the original campus, which only consisted of the area between 116th and 120th streets. It wasn't until 190? that Columbia bought the next two empty blocks to keep encroaching developement from arriving at their front steps. It was on this new plot of land that, in 1907, the College's building was finally built.

At the turn of the Millenium, Hamilton got a major makeover. Many of its classrooms were gutted and renovated (many of the rooms have sponsors, look for the placques outside each room). The lobby also got a major facelift, though no one read that memo that plain plaster walls and columns aren't really that impressive. However, Dean Quigley did manage to dig up two awesome stained glass windows to have installed in the lobby.

Idiosyncracies

Having a class on the upper reaches of the building sentences one to an excruciating stair climb or a long wait for a tiny elevator. Students, have been known to select Lit Hum and CC classes solely on the basis of the least flights of stairs to climb.

Empty Hamilton rooms are open for studying in the evenings during finals, and are often used as club meeting spaces during the semester.

Department offices

• American Studies
• Ancient Studies
• Asian-American Studies (Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race)
• Classics
• Comparative Ethnic Studies (Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race)
• Germanic Languages and Literatures
• Italian
• Latino Studies (Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race)
• Slavic Languages and Literatures

Other offices

• Center for the Core Curriculum
• Office of the Dean of Columbia College
• Office of Undergraduate Admissions