Landscape Information
Situated atop Mount Ida on 137 acres of hilly, wooded terrain surrounded by residential neighborhoods, this early secondary school for girls was founded in 1814 by Emma Hart Willard. The current campus opened in 1910 following a one-million-dollar donation from alumna Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage in 1906.
Originally 55-acres, the campus was laid out by Fred Cummings, of the Troy-based architecture firm M.F. Cummings & Son, who also designed its first three buildings in the Jacobethan Revival style: Slocum Hall, Sage Hall, and the gymnasium (now Alumnae Chapel). Cumming’s design consists of an irregularly shaped campus with the main buildings oriented around a level greensward quadrangle. A network of angular, concrete sidewalks connects the buildings that surround the quadrangle, creating asymmetrical, grassy spaces punctuated by deciduous trees, (including elm, spruce, oak, maple, and poplar). Following a 1929 fire that destroyed the Playhouse, the school engaged Olmsted Brothers to create a new master plan (1931), but the Great Depression prevented its execution. In the 1960s Edward Larrabee Barnes created another campus master plan and, in collaboration with landscape architect Peter Rolland, designed several new, Modernist buildings, including the Dietel Library and the Tangeman Apartments (1967).
The core of the campus sits atop gently sloping, wooded hills, at the bottom of which is a low stone wall capped by a cast iron fence marking the campus’ western and northern boundaries. The wall is interrupted on Pawling Avenue by a vehicular entrance and, to its north, a pedestrian entrance designed by Cummings, both of which lead up the hill to an oval roundabout fronting Slocum and Sage Halls. A passage between the two buildings leads to the center of the campus and the main grouping of academic and residential buildings. Directly downslope to the east are athletic fields, administrative buildings, and 40 acres of woodland with winding trails accessible to students and faculty.
Emma Willard School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
