On the outside, the building is McKim, Mead, and White’s most understated architectural creation on the Morningside Campus. Inside, professors have engaged in frank and fiery conversation, over drinks or dinner, since 1923.
The Columbia University Faculty House, at 116th Street and Morningside Drive, reopens this semester following an 18-month top-to-bottom renovation. The redbrick and limestone façade has been restored, while the interior of the six-floor building has been retrofitted with audiovisual technology and modern amenities suitable for a wide range of seminars, meetings, and banquets.
A fourth-floor buffet is designed primarily as a place for faculty to eat with students and colleagues; a second-floor café is intended as an affordable option for graduate students. Anyone is welcome to dine at Faculty House or to rent out its space, however.
“It’s probably one of the best-kept secrets in Manhattan that Faculty House is for everyone,” says David Martin, the facility’s general manager. “We welcome guests from the local community and around the world.”
