The History of Winants Hall
Winants Hall (1890), the first dormitory building at Rutgers College, was the last building erected on Queen’s Campus. Before this time, students typically lived nearby in boarding or fraternity houses, or with family. Benjamin Van Campen Taylor, a Rutgers alumnus and architect, designed the dormitory in an eclectic mix of styles, combining classical details and (originally) a Dutch-inspired clock tower at the center. The overall shape and composition of Winants Hall--a rectangular block with the pediment on the long side—respectfully responds to nearby Old Queens. Students at Rutgers had been campaigning for a dormitory for 60 years when namesake and trustee Garrett E. Winants, Esq., donated the funds for this striking building on a prominent site. The dormitory provided accommodations for 85 students in suites above a ground floor dining hall and assembly room. Paul Robeson was among its best-known inhabitants. Winants Hall remained the only dormitory at Rutgers College until the 1914 construction of John Ford Hall on College Avenue. Rutgers converted the dormitory to house academic offices in 1947. Upon completion of a major reconstruction of the building in 1990, it became a center for university administrative offices. Winants Hall is a contributing building to the Queen’s Campus Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
