The Clubs Ascendant: 1900-1910

The transition to more formal clubhouses that began at the turn of the century directly mirrors Princeton's institutional rejuvenation. For much of 19th century, the College of New Jersey had been regarded as a second- tier institution, but by the time of the Sesquicentennial in 1896, Princeton's national reputation had improved significantly. This reputation continued to grow during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1902- 10).

As a result, the student body at the turn of the century was comparatively more affluent than at any time in the university's history. Backed by powerful and prominent alumni, these students erected clubhouses that express in architectural terms the increasing clout, prestige, and resources of the clubs and their members. This second period in the evolution of Prospect Avenue saw the eating clubs move toward significantly more urbane and elaborate structures.

Ivy Club built the first resolutely formal structure on Prospect Avenue in 1899- 1900.
Putatively modeled on the Peacock Inn in Derbyshire, Ivy was designed by Cope and Stewardson, the same firm that designed Blair Tower on the campus and the leading American interpreter of the increasingly popular Collegiate Gothic style. Balancing the formality of the front elevation, however, is Ivy's more relaxed rear elevation, which looks out to the south over the club garden.

Cope and Stewardson's elegant Ivy clubhouse immediately set a new standard of graciousness and refinement for the clubs. And this new building also set in motion a flurry of other changes on Prospect. When Ivy moved across the street to its new building, Colonial Club took over the old Ivy clubhouse and totally remodeled it, masking the old Queen Anne facade with a massive, colonial-style entrance.

At this point, newer clubs began to take their places along Prospect -- and to aspire toward plush clubhouses of their own. Cannon Club , which began in the Incubator, occupied the old Osborn House starting in 1899; two years later, Quadrangle Club acquired Professor Fine's shingle house for its first clubhouse.

This peripatetic structure was originally built on the south side of Prospect, and then in 1896 was moved to the north side, next to Ivy/Colonial and near the spot of Dial Lodge today. In 1903 Quadrangle moved it back to the south side of the street, located between Cannon and Campus Club, and enlarged it considerably.

Tower Club would later occupy it for five years.

That same year, Campus Club moved into Professor West's Colonial Revival house on the corner of Washington Road,
and Charter Club -- as with Cannon and Campus, a hatchling of the Incubator -- also moved into a new and quite formal clubhouse. Designed by David Adler, one of its undergraduate members, this rigidly ordered Georgian Revival building

stood at the far end of Prospect, overlooking the baseball diamond of University Field. At the other end of the street, meanwhile, Terrace Club took over Professor John Grier Hibben's neo- Colonial house

in 1906.

But the architectural high-water mark for the eating clubs came in 1904- 05 with the construction of Cottage Club, designed by Charles McKim of the famed firm of McKim, Mead, and White.
This magnificent building succeeds on many levels: its fine Georgian facade and coherent massing of space; its well- proportioned interior spaces (particularly the wonderful library, a copy of the one at Merton College, XI,22
Oxford); and the handsome rear elevation and landscaping
. It is a quintessential clubhouse, the architectural peer of any contemporary club building in North America.

If anything, McKim's exquisite watercolor rendering of Cottage, dated 1903,
shows an even more lovely structure than the finished product. For instance, the use of brick quoins instead of white ones softens the overall appearance, and the entrance is better contrived than as built. This rendering marks club architecture at Princeton at its most elaborate: nothing quite so ornate would be attempted again.

Cottage's elegant new structure, and sense of the prestige that it imparted, set off the competitive juices of the other clubs. In 1906, after a lightning strike burned a hole in its roof, Colonial decided to put the insurance money toward a new clubhouse. The former structure --the old, much-renovated Ivy building, first club on Prospect -- was moved off campus and the current clubhouse erected.

With its enormous Southern-style portico and columns, Colonial consciously strives to surpass the grandeur of Cottage across the street.
But as built, the Colonial falls somewhat short of its promise. The entrance portico, in particular, looks out of proportion with the rest of the building. (Interestingly, the architect's rendering
seems to recognize this problem and suggests a more coherent overall appearance.)

Also competing with Cottage was the design of the new Cap & Gown , which decided in 1907 that its Italianate- style clubhouse
was too small and resolved to build a new clubhouse. (This 1896 building would go on to house both Dial Lodge and Gateway Club.) Cap commissioned Raleigh Gildersleeve, architect of Elm and many other campus buildings, including McCosh Hall, to design a new clubhouse.

Although built of brick as Colonial and Cottage had been, Cap
broke from those Georgian and Colonial styles. Instead, Cap chose a structure of dark brick built in what Gildersleeve called the "Norman" style -- not entirely dissimilar to the Collegiate Gothic then gaining popularity, but inspired by French rather than English models. The carving around the entrance door and the large windows on the club's protruding eastern wing show particularly strong French influence.

Gildersleeve's Cap & Gown established that brick Gothic designs could work well for eating clubs, and this style proved a natural fit for Campus , the next club to build. Campus stood across the street from the brick Collegiate Gothic of Palmer and 1879 Halls, and it was clear that a Norman- style building would suit the site.

Consequently, Campus considered a grand (and doubtless very expensive) Gothic design that strove to surpass the Gothic of Cap & Gown.
Had it been built, this club would have been the equal in scale and ambition as Colonial, Ivy, and Cottage. But cost forced Campus to curb its appetites and replace the French Gothic design with a simpler, more English- style Gothic plan.
The result -- a compact, even squat clubhouse
-- lacks both the scale and intimate detailing that make Cap so successful.

This happened in 1909, and Campus's decision to back off its grandiose plan marks a turning point in the development of Prospect Avenue. By refusing to compete architecturally with the other clubs, Campus -- along with Cannon -- serves as the bridge to the next generation of clubs. The clubs would still construct some notable and graceful buildings, but never again would they aspire to equal the great clubhouses of this period.