The Andrew Dickson White House, commonly referred to as the "A.D. White House," is a Second Empire house on the campus of Cornell University, designed by William Henry Miller and Charles Babcock. It currently houses the Cornell University Society for the Humanities.
The house was commissioned in 1871 by Andrew Dickson White, its namesake, and co-founder and first president of the university. The house is richly decorated with stone carvings according to White's tastes, intended to remind students of men's accomplishments and inspire them to higher purpose and an appreciation of beauty. White left the house to the university for the perpetual use of later presidents. Presidents still use the study on the southeast side of the building as a private office/retreat.
In 1953, the house was renovated for use as the University Art Museum, and its carriage house converted into what is now the Big Red Barn, a graduate student lounge. It served in this role until 1973, and was considered for demolition. Henry Guerlac, Director of the university's Society for the Humanities, led the cause to prevent its destruction and have it placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The house library is now called the Guerlac Room in his honor.
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or house:
“...there was the annual Fourth of July picketing at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. ...I thought it was ridiculous to have to go there in a skirt. But I did it anyway because it was something that might possibly have an effect. I remember walking around in my little white blouse and skirt and tourists standing there eating their ice cream cones and watching us like the zoo had opened.”
—Martha Shelley, U.S. author and social activist. As quoted in Making History, part 3, by Eric Marcus (1992)
“When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery...”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 8:12-14.