Palmer Stadium and Other Facilities

The years between the turn of the century and the World War I saw the construction of several additions to Princeton's athletic facilities. The most notable of these was Palmer Stadium, built in 1914. Donated by Edgar Palmer, Class of 1903, this horseshoe-shaped stadium
was erected on the open ground to the south of Prospect Avenue. In its original configuration, it seated 41,000 fans.

Designed by Henry J. Hardenbergh, the architect of Palmer Physical Laboratory, Palmer Stadium married Collegiate Gothic ornamentation with the classical Greek plan. Its northern end
featured a pair of Gothic entrance towers, and around the exterior structure ran a series of tall, narrow arches.

To keep costs down, the stadium was built of reinforced concrete instead of masonry. This was also its undoing. Because of extensive deterioration of the concrete, Palmer Stadium will be demolished following the 1996 football season.

Other athletic facilities built in this era included the Class of 1886 Golf Club (1903),
overlooking the links to the west of the campus; the Fitzpatrick Field House (1914),
also designed by Hardenbergh; the Class of 1887 Boat House (1913)
and Lake Carnegie itself (1906), a shallow body of water 800 feet wide and three miles long, created by damming the Millstone River at Kingston.

The university also added a variety of other facilities at this time. Faculty housing for the new preceptors went up in the Broadmead development east of the eating clubs, while the headquarters of the Princeton University Press,
on William Street, was built in 1911 by Ernest Flagg.