Schwarzman Center

The Bicentennial Buildings were built to celebrate Yale’s 200th anniversary and consist of Commons (soon to be Schwarzman Center), Memorial Hall, and Woolsey Hall. Commons, the university-wide dining hall, opened in 1901, while Memorial Hall and Woolsey Hall were later dedicated in 1903. The Beaux Arts Neoclassical style of the building, an interruption to the predominantly Collegiate Gothic style of Yale buildings, meant to perhaps elevate Yale to a prestigious institution by taking advantage of the power associated with Neoclassical designs. The location of the Bicentennial Buildings in the geographic center of Yale University — connecting Yale College and Science Hill — which is suggestive of its role as a symbol for Yale’s expansion from a college to a university.