Most Beautiful University Campuses in America

University of Virginia

Thomas Jefferson designed this campus himself, calling it his 'academical village,' with the domed Rotunda anchoring a lawn flanked by pavilions and gardens. It's the only American campus to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its neoclassical symmetry has been imitated bu

Founded: 1819Campus Size: 1,700 acresArchitectural Style: Jeffersonian NeoclassicalSignature Landmark: The RotundaBeauty Rating: 9.5/10National Historic Landmark: ✓

added by IJR

Duke University

Duke's West Campus was built almost overnight in the 1920s on tobacco fortune money, but the result feels centuries old — a fantasia of Collegiate Gothic stone crowned by the soaring Duke Chapel. The chapel's 210-foot tower and stained glass make it one of the most photographed r

Founded: 1838Campus Size: 8,600 acresArchitectural Style: Collegiate GothicSignature Landmark: Duke ChapelBeauty Rating: 9.4/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRDuke University

Stanford University

Stanford's Main Quad, with its Romanesque sandstone arcades and red tile roofs, was designed to evoke California missions rather than East Coast ivy. Hoover Tower rises above palm-lined avenues, and the sheer scale of the campus — nearly the size of a small city — gives it a sun-

Founded: 1885Campus Size: 8,180 acresArchitectural Style: Richardsonian Romanesque/Mission RevivalSignature Landmark: Main Quad & Hoover TowerBeauty Rating: 9.3/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRStanford University

University of Notre Dame

The golden dome atop the Main Building, capped by a gilded statue of Mary, is instantly recognizable even to people who've never set foot in Indiana. Twin lakes, the Basilica's spires, and the Grotto give the campus a pilgrimage-site atmosphere that's part university, part shrine

Founded: 1842Campus Size: 1,250 acresArchitectural Style: French Revival/GothicSignature Landmark: The Golden DomeBeauty Rating: 9.2/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRUniversity of Notre Dame

Princeton University

Nassau Hall has stood since before the Revolutionary War, and the ivy-draped Gothic quads that grew around it — Blair Arch, the Chapel, Whig-Clio — still feel plucked from Oxford. Fall foliage against gray stone here is a New Jersey postcard cliché precisely because it's true. Pr

Founded: 1746Campus Size: 600 acresArchitectural Style: Collegiate GothicSignature Landmark: Nassau HallBeauty Rating: 9/10National Historic Landmark: ✓

added by IJRPrinceton University

Yale University

Yale's Gothic towers and courtyards, many built in the 1930s to look centuries older through deliberately weathered stone, created an instant sense of ancient tradition in the middle of New Haven. Harkness Tower chimes over a campus of hidden courtyards and secret society tombs t

Founded: 1701Campus Size: 1,000 acresArchitectural Style: Collegiate GothicSignature Landmark: Harkness TowerBeauty Rating: 8.9/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRYale University

College of William & Mary

The Wren Building, the oldest college building still in use in America, anchors a campus that predates the United States itself. Colonial Williamsburg's restored 18th-century charm bleeds directly into the university grounds, making a walk to class feel like time travel. Few camp

Founded: 1693Campus Size: 1,200 acresArchitectural Style: Colonial/GeorgianSignature Landmark: The Wren BuildingBeauty Rating: 8.8/10National Historic Landmark: ✓

added by IJRCollege of William & Mary

Harvard University

Harvard Yard's brick Georgian halls, shaded by centuries-old elms, set the template every 'old money' campus since has tried to copy. Widener Library's columned steps and the statue of John Harvard draw a constant stream of tourists snapping the same photo generations have taken

Founded: 1636Campus Size: 5,000 acresArchitectural Style: Georgian/ColonialSignature Landmark: Harvard YardBeauty Rating: 8.7/10National Historic Landmark: ✓

added by IJRHarvard University

Sewanee: The University of the South

Spread across a 13,000-acre plateau called 'the Domain' in the Cumberland Mountains, Sewanee combines English collegiate Gothic architecture with sweeping Tennessee overlooks few campuses can match. All Saints' Chapel's stone spire rises above forests the university itself owns a

Founded: 1857Campus Size: 13,000 acresArchitectural Style: English Collegiate GothicSignature Landmark: All Saints' ChapelBeauty Rating: 8.8/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRSewanee: The University of the South

Washington and Lee University

The Colonnade — a row of white-columned academic buildings dating to the early 1800s — gives this small Virginia school an outsized architectural presence. Robert E. Lee's tomb sits in the campus chapel, tying the grounds to a complicated slice of American history. Its Blue Ridge

Founded: 1749Campus Size: 500 acresArchitectural Style: Greek Revival/ColonialSignature Landmark: The ColonnadeBeauty Rating: 8.7/10National Historic Landmark: ✓

added by IJRWashington and Lee University

University of Chicago

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel's soaring Gothic tower and the quiet quadrangles of Hyde Park give this urban campus a monastic seriousness that matches its academic reputation. Gargoyles and stone tracery cover buildings that look transplanted from medieval England into the South Si

Founded: 1890Campus Size: 217 acresArchitectural Style: Collegiate GothicSignature Landmark: Rockefeller Memorial ChapelBeauty Rating: 8.5/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRUniversity of Chicago

Rice University

Rice's Byzantine-Mediterranean architecture, with its pink brick, arched sallyports, and Lovett Hall's ornate facades, stands out dramatically against the flat Texas landscape it occupies. Live oak allées and a self-contained campus plan give it a resort-like serenity in the midd

Founded: 1912Campus Size: 300 acresArchitectural Style: Byzantine/MediterraneanSignature Landmark: Lovett Hall SallyportBeauty Rating: 8.5/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRRice University

Sweet Briar College

This Virginia women's college, threatened with closure in 2015 and saved by alumnae uprising, sits on a sprawling estate of neoclassical buildings and gardens once part of a plantation. Sweet Briar House and the surrounding Blue Ridge foothills give the campus a pastoral, almost

Founded: 1901Campus Size: 3,250 acresArchitectural Style: Neoclassical/Colonial RevivalSignature Landmark: Sweet Briar HouseBeauty Rating: 8.6/10National Historic Landmark: ✓

added by IJRSweet Briar College

UC Berkeley

Sather Tower, better known as the Campanile, rises 307 feet over a hillside campus of eclectic Beaux-Arts buildings and eucalyptus groves overlooking San Francisco Bay. Strawberry Creek runs right through the middle of campus, giving Berkeley a wooded, almost park-like feel unusu

Founded: 1868Campus Size: 1,232 acresArchitectural Style: Beaux-Arts/MixedSignature Landmark: Sather Tower (Campanile)Beauty Rating: 8.3/10National Historic Landmark: —

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Emory University

Emory's quadrangle of pink Georgia marble buildings glows at sunset in a way few other campuses can replicate, thanks to a state law requiring the local stone in construction. Dense forest and walking trails surround the academic core, earning Emory a reputation as one of the gre

Founded: 1836Campus Size: 700 acresArchitectural Style: Italian Renaissance (marble)Signature Landmark: The QuadrangleBeauty Rating: 8.4/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJREmory University

Scripps College

Part of the Claremont Colleges consortium, Scripps is famous for its Mediterranean Revival courtyards, fountains, and meticulously planned gardens designed with a single unifying vision rare among larger universities. Denison Library and the Margaret Fowler Garden are quiet, almo

Founded: 1926Campus Size: 30 acresArchitectural Style: Mediterranean RevivalSignature Landmark: Margaret Fowler GardenBeauty Rating: 8.4/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRScripps College

Colgate University

Perched on a hill in upstate New York, Colgate's mix of Georgian and Gothic buildings surrounds a chapel visible for miles across the surrounding valley. Autumn turns the campus into a blaze of color against limestone academic buildings, drawing comparisons to a New England postc

Founded: 1819Campus Size: 575 acresArchitectural Style: Georgian/Gothic mixSignature Landmark: Memorial ChapelBeauty Rating: 8.3/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRColgate University

Vassar College

One of the original Seven Sisters colleges, Vassar's Main Building was among the largest structures in America when completed in 1865, and its Collegiate Gothic and Victorian architecture still dominates the Hudson Valley campus. A 1,000-acre arboretum and farm give Vassar a natu

Founded: 1861Campus Size: 1,000 acresArchitectural Style: Collegiate Gothic/VictorianSignature Landmark: Main BuildingBeauty Rating: 8.2/10National Historic Landmark: —

added by IJRVassar College