The 250th Anniversary of Princeton University
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BEFORE TEMPLES WERE BUILT
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	The American Whig Society and the Cliosophic Society
respectively were founded about 1765 as the Plain Dealing Club
and the Well Meaning Club respectively.  These original groups were
banned by the administration in March of 1769, but allowed to
reorganize and reform a few years later.  Whig was born on June 24,
1769, and Clio on June 7, 1770.  The Society, while enjoying stable
organization and support from the College (and later the University),
their numbers and influence on campus have fluctuated throughout their
history.  Likewise, their official residences on campus have changed
several times in the 225 years of their existence.
	The first site of their Clubs' rooms was Nassau Hall.  Both
occupied rooms in the northern pavilion of the building, with
Whig moving to rooms in the southern pavilion in 1783.1  After the fire
of 1802, the Societies met at Colonel Morgan's home, Prospect, and at a
rented house near the intersection of Nassau Street and University
Place.  When Nassau Hall had been repaired, they returned to their
respective rooms.  In the spring of 1805, when the new library building
had been completed, the Societies divided the top floor between
themselves.  The rooms were contiguous, which was a source of
irritation to the students who were afraid that rival students were
overhear their secret meetings.  Whig was in the southern room, Clio in
the northern.  From the beginning, these rooms were cramped and
inadequate.
	Whig and Clio enjoyed the patronage of faculty members.  In
particular, Professor Joseph Henry was an active support of
Whig.  It may have been with his support or encouragement, that Whig
began to address the idea of erecting a separate new hall for their
use.  In September of 1835, a committee was appointed to consider how
to procure this new structure.  A meeting with the Trustees that month
was fruitful, and the Trustees

	Resolved that Mr. [John] Henry, Mr. Green, and Mr. Comfort be a
		committee to confer with the Whig Society respecting
		ground on which to erect a building for the use of that
		Society.2

The Whig and Clio Societies both met with the Trustees again in
September of 1836, when it was,

	Resolved that the plan laid before the board by the committee
		appointed to confer with the Whig and
		Cliosophic societies on the location and erection of
		new halls by and for, said societies be and hereby is
		accepted.3

	The matter then disappears from the Trustees Minutes until 1844, but
some arrangement was made, as construction went ahead.  The Clio
Society, following the lead of the Whigs, must also have reached an
agreement with the Trustees, as they proceeded to erect a temple
identical to the Whigs'.4  Both were located at the southernmost line
of the rear campus; both were visible from Nassau Street on either side
of Nassau Hall5; and both included in Joseph Henry's 1836 plan of the
campus.  Neither Society received direct financial support from the
College, other than the grant of the use of their land.
	The Whig building committee was composed of graduates and
professors.6  In the summer of 1836, a circular was prepared
and sent to Whig alums and other supporters.  The project was pitched
not only as a means of securing a permanent and prominent home for
Whig, but also as part of the general improvements in the College.
Included on the lithographed circular, was Professor Henry's plan.7
	The new identical buildings were modeled on two Greek temples.
	In the Appendix of the Catalogue of the Officers and Students
of the College of New Jersey, 1836 & 1837, the Clio building is
described as already begun.  Both buildings are,

	... In the Ionic style, sixty-two feet long, forty-one feet
	wide, and two stories high.  The columns of the
	hexastyle porticos are copied from those of a temple on the
	Ilissus, near the fountain of Calirrhoe in Athens.  The
	splendid temple of Dionysus (Bacchus) in the Ionian city of
	Teos, situated on a peninsular of Asia Minor, is a model of the
	buildings in other respects.8

The cornerstone of Whig's new hall was laid in the summer of 1837 by W.
C. Alexander, Chairman of the building committee.  On August 1, 1838,
the building was handed over to the Committee as completed.  It had
cost $7,425.
	The buildings were made out of brick, covered with stucco and
then painted white.  The stucco on the front facade was scored
so as to imitate marble.  The columns and pediment were made of wood,
and also painted white.9 The designer and builder of them is unknown,
although the design has frequently been attributed to John Haviland, or
the local builder Charles Steadman.  That the buildings were
archeologically accurate, and yet based on two different temples, is a
fascinating blend of approaches.   In any event, the Greek Revival
temples were an astounding departure from the Georgian Nassau Hall,
Federal Library [Stanhope] and Philosophical Hall, and the neo-Colonial
East and West Colleges.  The sole recommendation to the grouping was
their symmetry and their erudite impressiveness.  Their
distinctiveness, while not subordinate to the stately Nassau Hall, lent
the campus an air of refinement, learning, and elegance.
	Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, committees were organized to
discuss the possibility of enlarging or replacing the halls.
These were the years in which the Societies were at their peak in
membership.10  The physical state of the halls grew egregious enough to
warrant action.  On Class Day in 1889, the front porch of Whig
collapsed, and twenty people fell into the cellar.  Whig devised a plan
for rebuilding its hall and convinced Clio to go along with it.  In
September of 1889 the building committee of Whig sent out a circular
explaining the dire need to rebuild (quoting the advice of a structural
engineer, Professor McMillan), and seeking funds.  The cost of the plan
was then estimated to be $35,000. 11
	The Societies then had to decide if they would rebuild on the
same location.  The College had its eye on their land, and
proposed using the abandoned temples for lecture halls if the Societies
rebuilt elsewhere.  However, at a joint meeting of the Societies'
building committees, it was decided to stay.

	The location of the present buildings is by far the most
	desirable site for the new buildings to be had on the campus.
	While the Committees recognized the claims of the college for
	the preservation of the old buildings, they deemed the claims
	of the societies for the present sites upon which to erect
	their new buildings the more important.12

By that time, the work on demolishing Whig had already begun.  The Clio
Society sent out its circular only after this meeting and after the
demolition of Whig had begun.  Whig was in a position to dictate the
design and scale of the buildings.  The authors of the Clio circular
used the urgency of the situation to appeal for funds.

	As your representatives, we feel confident that no Cliosopian
	will consent to allow the Whig Society to erected a large,
	handsome and commodious building without being willing to
	contribute liberally toward the erection of a building for his
	own Society.  The cause is urgen, the need is great and every man
	should contribute something, even  though the contribution
	might entail some sacrifice.  If funds enough are in hand by
	December 15th, our Society can also enter into a contract for a
	new building, and at the most we shall be but a few weeks
	behind the Whig Society.13


	In the interim, Whig met in the examination room in Dickinson Hall.
The new pair of temples was designed by A. Page Brown, the
architect of the Museum of Historic Art.14 They were built
along the lines of a Roman, rather than a Greek temple, with the sides
extending beyond the front facade.  The new structures were moved
closer to one another by several yards each, but an 1887 proposal to
make the temples the wings of a common building was rejected.15  The
cornerstones of each were laid simultaneously on June 11, 1890, with
President Patton officiating for the Clios, and former president James
McCosh for the Whigs.  Both were dedicated on June 14, 1892.  The
construction of Whig had cost $62,000.16  The Princetonian of March 9,
1892, described them:

	The buildings are of Ionic style and are constructed of marble
	from the Vermont quarries of the Proctor Marble  Co.  They are
	T shaped in outline, the main body of  the buildings being 71 x
	48 feet.  In front is a facade composed of the marble steps and
	a porch 45 x 3 feet which supports six massive pillars.  These
	pillars form one of the most interesting features of the new
	halls.  The shafts of marble are 20 feet in height  and have a
	diameter of 2 feet 10 winches.  They are fluted, with Ionic caps and
	style columnations.17

	After the 1880s and 1890s, the Societies decline in
popularity.  New distractions on campus, including organized
athletics and the fledgling eating clubs, siphoned away the interest of
the student population.  In 1928, the two Societies were consolidated
into the Whig-Clio Society.  The University took over use of Clio Hall,
and in 1941, assumed ownership of both buildings.  Clio has since
served as the home of the Engineering School, the Music Department, and
many administrative offices, while Whig-Clio continues to have use of
Whig.18
	On November 9, 1969, a fire gutted the interior of Whig Hall.
the strong marble resisted the heat of the flame, however, and
only the cornice cracked during the blaze.  The architectural firm
called upon to repair the building submitted a controversial plan to
replace the eastern facade with a contemporary design utilizing
Corbusian design elements and glass.  The New York firm of Charles
Gwathmey and Robert Siegel resisted student accusations of producing an
"ant farm" or a "Dairy Queen," and convinced the Trustees that the
design would update and revitalize the conservative structure.  Despite
complaints from members of the Whig Clio society that the renovated
building was cold and damp, and did not provide the promised 3,000
square feet, the $1m design won awards from both Progressive
Architecture magazine and the American Institute of Architects.

Below is one simple example of the kind of keyword cross-referencing that is being designed into the Princeton Interactive Campus History Project. There will be several key lists driving the software system. These will cover topics such as buildings, people, events, anecdotes and various architectural ideas such style and material. From the list below you can jump to various points within this document or you can try the other linking list on the main page describing this project.

Keywords Found in This Document:

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                  Joseph Henry