Architecture is the appeal of some universities. Oxford University in England is such a university. Students seem to find themselves caught by the idea of walking the same cobblestones and using the same libraries which have been used for generations.
Much can be criticized in almost any educational institution, but since education is an act of creative thought, is it important to be surrounded by a setting which captures imagination?
If Oxford University achieves this through architecture, Princeton University in New Jersey transports its pupils, while they are pedestrians on the American campus, across the Atlantic.
Just as the USA’s laws and government borrowed from the methods and ideas of Europe and its philosophizers, some of the USA’s earliest universities borrowed from aspects of Europe’s foundations. In the case of Princeton, the most obviously borrowed aspect is that of some of its architecture, which appears directly linked to the architecture of the English University of Oxford.
History of PrincetonUniversity
Originally known as “College of New Jersey,” Princeton was established in 1746. In 1756, the college moved from its original location in Elizabeth to its present location in the Princeton area. The college’s original building in its new location was Nassau Hall, which was named in honor of Dutch-born William of Orange, Britain’s William III. One of the university’s current colors, “orange,” was adopted in William’s honor. These memorials to the former English king, who reigned from 1689 to 1702, show the university’s early connections to Britain.
However, when the American colonies sought independence from Great Britain, Princeton came to be among one of the important settings within the history of the American Revolution. Not only was the 1777 Battle of Princeton fought in a nearby field, but also, during 1783, Nassau Hall of the college served as a temporary meeting place for the Continental Congress, rendering Princeton the capital of the fledgling nation for about four months. The buildings of the college, once defended by George Washington, would see warfare again during the 1800s.
The college underwent vast expansion and officially changed its name to Princeton University in 1896.
New Jersey Becomes “New Oxford” Architecturally
Many of Princeton’s buildings were built between the later 1800s and the earlier 1900s, as a mixture of architectural movements, but a dominant presence in the structures is the architectural style of Gothic Revival, causing resemblance to buildings of Oxford.
Archways and cloisters line several campus structures of Princeton, causing the buildings of the university to resemble the structures of the fabled city of dreaming spires, the colleges of which are also formed by these Gothic shapes. Quads of these stone structures are also littered throughout both universities. Princeton even possesses replica towers of Oxford’s Magdalen and Merton towers. The comparisons between the look of the “campuses” of the two universities are countless. The buildings of Princeton show a century’s worth of building almost a reconstruction of aspects of England’s equivalent to the Ivy League.
OxfordUniversity Crosses to Princeton in Aspects of Academia
In 1905, Princeton introduced a method of teaching which combined lecture with a form of tutorial. This method, usually referred to as the “preceptorial system,” varies from the teaching methods of Oxford, but the system is related to the “tutorial system.” Thus, in this too, Princeton seems to model aspects of itself on its educational sister across the sea.
Architectural Appeal
Architecture attracts academics because the sight of seemingly scholastic surroundings may remind of purpose, but the visual appeal of an environment is in the eye of the beholder. Each student considers which environmental factors appeal to individual “learning personality.”
Elizabeth Fredericks - Elizabeth Fredericks is a graduate of Oxford University, and she has worked as a freelance writer since her first paid assignment as a ...
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