Alexander Hall (Princeton University)

Alexander Hall is a 900-seat Richardsonian Romanesque assembly hall at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It is home to both the Princeton University Orchestra and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra.The name honors three generations of members of the Alexander family who served as trustees to the University. Mrs. Harriet Crocker Alexander donated the money for such a building to be named in honor of her relatives: her husband Charles B. Alexander (class of 1870), his father Henry M. Alexander (class of 1840), a college trustee and member of the Committee on Commencement Arrangements, and his grandfather Reverend Dr. Archibald Alexander (founder of the Princeton Theological Seminary and its first professor, honorary Princeton doctorate 1810) It was built to accommodate large meetings and commencement for students and faculty. Over time, the Hall became available to the public and now holds town meetings as well as visiting concert groups. Many vocal and performing groups seek this auditorium because the acoustics inside the rusticated brownstone and red granite walls and turrets rival Carnegie Hall.The architect, William Appleton Potter (1842–1909) landed his first design commission on the Princeton campus when he was a teenager. Architects of the first half of the nineteenth century learned as apprentices on the construction site, but Potter learned his art in college.