Manuscript Society

From Elm St, 344 Elm looks like a windowless wall, intriguing to some passersby and easy for others to ignore. The building is the clubhouse, or “tomb,” of Manuscript, a Yale senior society, and the blank facade is intentional. Architect King-lui Wu designed the 1962 building to face inward, with its rooms arranged around a garden and a multi-level courtyard hidden from the street. The facade’s only feature is a faint circle designed by Josef Albers, outlined in brown-painted mortar. Manuscript still uses the building, and it remains closed to the public.