Schermerhorn Hall

New York City, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Schermerhorn Hall stands at 1190 Amsterdam Avenue on Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Designed by the prestigious firm McKim, Mead & White and completed in 1897 with a $300,000 gift from alumnus William Colford Schermerhorn, the building was originally conceived to house the natural sciences. The inscription above its doorway—"For the advancement of natural science. Speak to the earth and it shall teach thee"—reflects this founding purpose. In its early decades, the hall supported teaching and research in botany, geology, physics, mechanics, and astronomy. Most notably, evolutionary biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan's famous Fly Room occupied room 613, where his studies of fruit fly genetics led to discoveries about the gene's role in inheritance and earned him the 1933 Nobel Prize. During World War II, Schermerhorn also served the Manhattan Project with early atomic research. Today the building houses the Departments of Art History and Archeology, Earth and Environmental Science, and Psychology.

Architect

McKim, Mead & White

Built: 1897
Type: university building
Height: 29.9 m
Place: New York City, United States

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Location

40.80856, -73.96043