Woodbridge Hall

431 Riverside Drive | Morningside Heights | built 1902

Open on the map5 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1900

    Columbia Court is among the first apartment houses begun in Morningside Heights

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission's district report counts Columbia Court, at 431 Riverside Drive, among the earliest multiple-family buildings in the area. It was begun in 1900 along with a flats building at 545 West 112th Street by Neville & Bagge, after 606 West 113th Street (1898-99). All predate the Tenement House Act of 1901 and were built under the earlier tenement law, which let buildings cover more of their lots.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1902

    George Keister designs Columbia Court, a seven-story Beaux Arts flats building for H. J. Beaudet

    Columbia Court, at 431 Riverside Drive and 637-641 West 115th Street, was built in 1900-02 to plans by George Keister for owner H. J. Beaudet. The seven-story building has a white-brick facade over a limestone base, terra-cotta ornament, a projecting curved corner bay and a carved entrance with a stone stoop. It was later renamed Woodbridge Hall.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1912

    Philosopher Frederick J. E. Woodbridge, dean from 1912, is the namesake of Woodbridge Hall

    Frederick James Eugene Woodbridge (1867-1940) taught philosophy at Columbia from 1902 and became dean over the political science, philosophy and pure science faculties in 1912. He co-founded the Journal of Philosophy in 1904 with James McKeen Cattell and kept editing it until his death. He retired as dean in 1929, and the residence hall at 431 Riverside Drive is named in his honor.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1930

    Naval architect Theodore E. Ferris lives at 431 Riverside Drive at the time of the 1930 census

    Theodore E. Ferris (1872-1953), a naval architect and engineer, resided at 431 Riverside Drive in 1930. He was responsible for the Ferris Designs that the U.S. Emergency Fleet Corporation used for ships during World War I. The Landmarks Preservation Commission notes his residence in its entry for the building, then known as Columbia Court.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 2022

    Woodbridge Hall is gutted and converted into apartment-style suites with air conditioning for the first time

    A renovation completed in 2022, estimated at $15 million and covering 68,000 square feet, turned the dorm from mostly shared bedrooms into apartment-style suites with mainly single bedrooms and separate living rooms. It brought air conditioning to the building for the first time, added a second elevator and a new entrance closer to campus that made it fully accessible, and enlarged the fitness, lounge and study areas. Legacy Engineers designed the new mechanical, electrical, plumbing and life-safety systems.

    Source: legacy-engineers.com

Nearby

All 49 buildings with stories in Morningside Heights