95. Prospect House and Garden
The Prospect estate was purchased in 1878 on behalf of the College by
two wealthy sugar merchants, brothers Alexander and Robert Stuart, for
use as the President’s home. The Florentine-style mansion
had been built in 1849, replacing a stone farmhouse that briefly lodged
the Continental Congress in 1783 before that august body situated itself
in Nassau Hall. The acquisition of this 33-acre property, named
for its spectacular eastern view, nearly tripled the size of the campus.
President James McCosh was the first president to live in Prospect, and
he faithfully kept his vow to keep the house open and welcoming to students.
In 1904, President Wilson surrounded the lovely garden with an iron fence
in order to keep out trampling football crowds, and Mrs. Wilson made over
the garden into its present shape of the University seal. Princeton
presidents lived in Prospect until 1968 and have since resided in the
off-campus Walter Lowrie House, coincidentally designed by the same architect
as Prospect—John Notman, who also remodeled Nassau Hall after its
devastating 1855 fire. Prospect now serves as a dining and
social facility for University faculty and staff.
- To learn more about Princeton in the nation’s
history, see quotation #11 and Café Vivian
picture #20, 33, 83,
92, and 113.
- To learn more about James McCosh, see quotation
#9 and Café Vivian picture #6,
8, 11, 18,
68, 75, 79,
and 101.
- To learn more about Woodrow Wilson, see quotation
#33 and Café Vivian picture #3,
34, 42, 54,
84, 101, 104,
and 105.
- To learn more about Princeton University presidents,
see quotation #9, 11,
33, and 41, and Café
Vivian picture #33, 40,
98, 105, 113,
122, and 125.
- To learn more about John Notman’s buildings,
see Café Vivian picture #4.
- To learn more about Nassau Hall, see icon #1,
quotation #1 and 35,
and Café Vivian picture #4, 20,
33, 75, and 92.
- To learn more about campus grounds and buildings, see icon #1, 5, and 8, quotation #5, 7, 9, 28, and 39, and Café Vivian picture #4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 16, 20, 25, 30, 33, 37, 40, 46, 48, 54, 58, 61, 62, 67, 68, 71, 78, 85, 87, 100, 101, 102, 104, 105, 108, 109, 111, 118, 124, 127, and 133.