Reid Hall is a complex of academic facilities owned and operated byColumbia University that is located in theMontparnassequartier ofParis,France.[1] It houses the Columbia University Institute for Scholars in addition to various graduate and undergraduate divisions of over a dozen Anglophonecolleges anduniversities. For over a century, Reid Hall has served as a link between the academic communities of the United States and France.[2]
In 1964, the property was bequeathed to Columbia University,[3] and has since seen lectures by such notable French intellectuals asstructuralist criticRoland Barthes,deconstructionalist philosopherJacques Derrida, existentialist philosopherSimone de Beauvoir, cinema criticMichel Ciment, andEdwy Plenel, former editor-in-chief ofLe Monde. In addition to Columbia University, it currently houses undergraduate and graduate divisions of over a dozen institutions, including:
Over the years, Reid Hall has also hosted lectures and events featuring some of the most prominent French intellectuals. Among them are:
Reid Hall continues to serve as a vibrant center for academic and cultural activities, fostering dialogue and collaboration among scholars, students, and intellectuals from around the world.
Reid Hall's origins date to the mid-eighteenth century, when it served as aporcelainfactory and warehouse.[8] By 1799, the building was purchased by two French brothers by the name of Dagoty, who succeeded in converting the building to one of the largest and most successful porcelain factories in France. By 1812, the Dagoty brothers had over a hundred workers in their employ and built an additional three warehouses and four storerooms, one of which was richly ornamented with mirrors and decorative shelves. Their porcelain was not only popular in the dining rooms of the local bourgeoisie, but was also purchased for such residences as the castle ofCompiègne, thepalace of Versailles, and theWhite House inWashington, D.C.James Monroe, who was then thePresident of the United States, commissioned a Dagotychina service featuring an Americaneagle motif for use at official state dinners.
In 1834, the site became the home of the Keller Institute, a boarding school led by aSwiss Protestant Educator Jean-Jacques Keller. It was the firstProtestant school established in France since the revocation of theEdict of Nantes in 1685, whose student body came from the home of bourgeoisHuguenots, or French Protestants, and wealthyexpatriates. Students includedAndré Gide, who attended the Institute in 1886, an experience that he later described in his writings.
By 1893, The Keller Institute was forced to close its doors, and the complex was purchased by thephilanthropist and social activist Elizabeth Mills Reid, whose father,Darius O. Mills, had been president of theBank of California, and whose husband was the Americanplenipotentiary minister to Paris,Whitelaw Reid. Mrs. Reid then established theAmerican Girls' Club in Paris in hopes of providing artistic and academic opportunities to young American women living in Paris.[8] The success of the club allowed Reid to expand the complex to include a neighboring building and its courtyard.[9]
At the outbreak ofWorld War I, the property was converted into a hospital, and its classrooms were used to house wounded soldiers. The complex saw a number of new buildings constructed at this time to provide more adequated facilities for the enormous number ofcasualties being cared for by theAmerican Red Cross. After the war's end, the site remained in the hands of the American Red Cross until 1922.
In 1922, Reid began converting the complex to house a center for advanced and university studies for American women. Reid Hall became important to American women's academics inWestern Europe, and grew along withFranco-American artistic activity in the Montparnasse quarter during theinter-war period, with visits and lectures being provided by influential neighbors includingGertrude Stein andNadia Boulanger. DuringWorld War II, Reid Hall became a refuge, first forPolish university women, then forBelgian teachers, and later for the women students of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Sèvres. After the war, the property was converted once again to a university center, this time with acoeducational student body. The Sweet Briar College Junior Year in France and others were based at Reid Hall.[10] Elizabeth Mill Reid's daughter in law (and former social secretary)Helen Rogers Reid continued to own the property but in 1964 she gave the property to Columbia University.[3] In September 2018, Reid Hall welcomed the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, an initiative launched by Columbia's President,Lee Bollinger. The combination of the Center and the Institute, bring to Reid Hall the significant resources provided by Columbia faculty, students, and administration.[11]
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48°50′31″N2°19′54″E / 48.8419°N 2.3317°E /48.8419; 2.3317
