The City College of New York

After Trent and I received our private tour of Hamilton Grange, we walked a block next door to explore the campus of the City College of New York. I hadn't really known that City College even really existed until I read this Scouting NY Post about it, and immediately added it to my list of must-sees.

Founded in 1847 and moved to its current location in Hamilton Heights/Harlem in 1907, CCNY was the first free public institution of higher learning the United States. The campus is fairly small (at least when compared to other universities around the country), but most of its neo-Gothic campus buildings are landmarked. 

The best thing about the gorgeous buildings, of course, are the hundreds of gargoyles and grotesques hanging out all over the place. A lot of them are too high up to even get a good look at, which is kind of a bummer since I was so fascinated with them, and they're all so different.

The grotesques have actually been restored, replicated and replaced over the years since the originals were deteriorating, and the whole campus feels as if its been scrubbed clean recently which is nice, of course, but still a bit of a disconnect with the old-world feeling.

The campus was basically deserted on a Saturday morning, which is always preferable to me when I'm exploring and snapping photos. Although I haven't yet been to Europe (I'm working on it!) City College felt very old-world-European to me and I didn't feel at all like I was still in New York City.

There are a few modern buildings sprinkled around, but they definitely feel out of place and can't possibly compare when plopped right next to the beautiful landmarked ones. I would love to go back with a better camera (I'm working on that too!) to try and capture some of the less accessible details. I'm sure I missed a lot in our first run-through, but thankfully City College is only a few subway stops away so I will definitely be back soon to explore further.