The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Ludlow Hall

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Institution Name: Bard College
Original/Historic Place Name: Ludlow/Willink
Location on Campus: southern terminus of main campus road
Date(s) of Construction:

1866-1869

original construction Upjohn, Richard

Designer: Richard Upjohn
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Gothic revival (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, culture
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: stone

Walls: brick

Roof: slate

Function:

ca. 1869	private residence (for the warden)
ca. 1869	other (contained a meeting room for the college trustees and for other occasions)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	administration

Narrative:
As Reamer Kline describes it, Ludlow Hall "resulted as an appeal by the Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton of Trinity Church, New York, to Miss Elizabeth Ludlow and her sister Mrs. Cornelia Ann Willink, two ladies of Trinity parish. Designed by Richard Upjohn, it cost over $53,000… It is a splendid three-story edifice, with stone porte-cochere and stone carriage shed, its main floor embellished with carvings and decorations in beautiful costly oak." The author questions the need for such a building for such a small college and provides his own answer: "it should be remembered that status and manners, form and elegance, were very important values in the Victorian age and the building probably appeared to be more costly than it actually was."

References:

Hudson River Historic District [including Bard College]. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1990.

Kline, Reamer. Education for the Common Good: A History of Bard College--the First 100 Years (1860--1960). Annandale-on-Hudson, NY: Bard College, 1982.