The History of Old Queens
Old Queens (1809) was the original multipurpose building for Queen’s College at the center of what was to become Queen’s Campus. Architect John McComb of New York City designed Old Queens in the Federal style to be constructed of brownstone. The trustees of Queen’s College laid the cornerstone in 1809. When first occupied in 1811, Old Queens housed Queen’s College, the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and the Grammar School (later Rutgers Preparatory School). Building construction concluded and the college took full occupancy in 1825. All school functions were housed in the central block, flanked by faculty housing in the two end wings. Within the central utilitarian block, the kitchen and dining room were on the ground floor, while lecture halls, the library, and the chapel were on the upper floors. The college erected the cupola, donated by Stephen Van Rensselaer in 1825, to house a bell, a gift from Henry Rutgers. Of the nine colonial colleges, only Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard, William and Mary, Brown, Yale, and Rutgers can boast that their first building is still standing. Today Old Queens houses administrative offices. The U.S. Department of the Interior has designated Old Queens as a National Historic Landmark and as a contributing building to the Queen’s Campus Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
