John Jay Hall

John Jay Hall is a 15-story building located on the southeastern extremity of the

Unlike Carman Hall, the other exclusively freshman dormitory at Columbia, in which rooms are double-occupancy and arranged in clusters of two around a common bathroom as a suite, John Jay Hall's accommodations consist primarily of single rooms along narrow corridors, generally with three double-occupancy rooms per floor. Other dormitories housing undergraduate freshmen (but not exclusively so) include Wallach Hall, Hartley Hall, and Furnald Hall.

History

"Skyscraper Dorm"

Following the

John Jay Hall was notably distinct from its institutional contemporaries on Morningside Heights. Johnson (now Wien) and Hewitt Halls were built to house female Columbia graduate students and Barnard College undergraduates, respectively. Both employed lighter wood finishing and "early-American" neo-colonial architecture, thought to reflect the comfortable, domestic environment women ought to be exposed to. In contrast, John Jay Hall featured dark wooden ceiling beams and panelling, as well as other details thought to render it a more "masculine" structure.^[1]

In his 1919 annual report, University President

The first residents of what the

In March 2022, the student lounge of John Jay was renamed after Walter and Shirley Wang, son and daughter-in-law of Taiwanese business magnate Wang Yung-ching, following the two's $10 million donation to improve undergraduate social spaces on campus.^[6]

Notable residents

• Federico García Lorca (1929–1930), Spanish poet, wrote that “my room in John Jay is wonderful. It is on the 12th floor of the dormitory, and I can see all the university buildings, the Hudson River and a distant vista of white and pink skyscrapers. On the right, spanning the horizon, is a great bridge under construction, of incredible grace and strength.”^[7]
• John Berryman, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet; once reported that he was knocked cold by a bottle that was tossed in through an open John Jay window.
• David Paterson, Governor of New York^[8][9]
• Julia Stiles (2000–2001), actress, starred in Save the Last Dance and Mona Lisa Smile^[8]
• Art School Confidential^[10]
• Spencer Treat Clark (2006–2007), actor, starred in Gladiator, Mystic River, and Unbreakable.
• Jake Gyllenhaal (1998–1999), actor, known for his work in Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac, and Nightcrawler.^[11]
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt, actor, known for his work in The Walk, Inception, Snowden^[12][13]
• Katori Hall, American playwright and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2021^[14]
• Sha Na Na (1963–1968), rock group. Co-founders George Leonard (1963–1967) and Robert Leonard (1967–68), singer/composer Scott Simon (1966–67), and manager Ed Goodgold (1964–65) all resided in John Jay.
• Jim McMillian (1965–1966), Los Angeles Lakers star, replaced Elgin Baylor at forward, led Lakers to 33 game win streak and NBA championship (avg 19.1/ game in playoffs).
• Punch Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times^[15]
• Philip Springer, American composer known for writing the song Santa Baby^[15]
• Cristina Teuscher, Olympic swimmer and gold medalist^[7]
• Victor Cha, American presidential advisor and Korea specialist^[16]
• John D'Emilio, professor of women's and gender studies at University of Illinois Chicago^[17]
• Fiona Sze-Lorrain, writer, poet^[18]
• Raamla Mohamed, television writer^[19]
• Thomas Lippman, journalist specializing in the Middle East^[20]
• Tom Kitt, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and musician^[21]

References