Branford College, residential college at Yale University
Branford College is one of fourteen residential colleges at Yale University in Connecticut, opened in 1933. It is made up of stone buildings arranged around a central courtyard and is crowned by Harkness Tower, a tall bell tower housing a carillon of fifty-four bells.
The building complex was constructed between 1917 and 1922 as a gift from Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness, in memory of her son Charles, who died in 1916. Architect James Gamble Rogers, himself a Yale graduate, drew inspiration from Oxford's college architecture and used materials gathered from various regions, including bricks salvaged from older structures.
The stained glass windows throughout the buildings were made by artist G. Owen Bonawit and feature a Y-shaped pattern that references Yale's symbol. Many of the panes were deliberately broken and resoldered to create this design, which visitors can still notice when looking closely at the windows.
The courtyard at Branford College is open to visitors and makes for a good place to walk through and observe the stone buildings at a close distance. The interior spaces are mostly reserved for students, so the best way to experience the college is by wandering through the outdoor areas during daytime.
The poet Robert Frost once described Branford Court as one of the most beautiful college courtyards in America. What is less often noted is that architect James Gamble Rogers planned the layout around the existing campus trees so carefully that none of them had to be cut down during construction.
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