Philosophy Hall | |
Rodin'sThe Thinker with Philosophy Hall in the background | |
| Location | 1150Amsterdam Avenue,Columbia University |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°48′22″N73°57′45″W / 40.80611°N 73.96250°W /40.80611; -73.96250 |
| Built | 1910 |
| Architect | McKim, Mead and White |
| Architectural style | Italian Renaissance Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 03001046 |
| NYSRHP No. | 06101.000455 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 31, 2003[1] |
| Designated NHL | July 31, 2003[2] |
| Designated NYSRHP | July 31, 2003 |
Philosophy Hall is a building on the campus ofColumbia University inNew York City. It houses the English, Philosophy, and French departments, along with the university's writing center, part of its registrar's office, and the student lounge of itsGraduate School of Arts and Sciences. It is one of the original buildings designed for the university'sMorningside Heights campus byMcKim, Mead, and White, built in theItalian Renaissance Revival style and completed in 1910. Philosophy Hall is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places and has been designated aNational Historic Landmark as the site of the invention ofFM radio byEdwin Armstrong in the early 1930s.

The space now occupied by the registrar formerly housedelectrical engineering laboratories in whichMichael I. Pupin andEdwin Howard Armstrong made several major technological breakthroughs. The building has been home to such notable faculty members as philosophersJohn Dewey,Frederick J. E. Woodbridge andErnest Nagel, Guadeloupean novelistMaryse Condé, French literary scholarMichael Riffaterre, poetKenneth Koch and English literary scholarsLionel Trilling,Edward Said,Carolyn Heilbrun,Quentin Anderson,Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak andMark Van Doren.
Philosophy Hall was not occupied by protesters during the1968 protests. It served instead as a refuge for faculty and a site of contentious debates among them concerning student conduct.
The lawn in front of Philosophy Hall is the site of an original cast ofThe Thinker (Le Penseur), one of the most famous pieces by French sculptorAuguste Rodin.
The hall was designated aNational Historic Landmark in 2003.[2][3]
It is one of only a handful of buildings on the Columbia campus named for an academic discipline, and not an individual. The others include Mathematics and International Affairs.