Brown University campus tour: the Van Wickle Gates and College Hill

Founded in 1764, Brown University is the seventh-oldest college in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Its campus sits on College Hill, a steep, leafy neighbourhood of brick pavements and colonial houses directly above downtown Providence, Rhode Island. The historic core is small enough to walk in an hour. This guide covers the landmarks in a sensible order, what student life around them looks like, and the practical side of a visit.

The shape of the campus

Brown has no wall around it; it blends into the streets of College Hill. Four areas matter most to a first-time visitor:

The Front Green and College Green: the historic centre, entered from Prospect Street through the Van Wickle Gates.
Pembroke campus: a few blocks north, once a separate women's college and now mostly residence halls.
Keeney and Wriston quadrangles: the main residential area, just south of the greens.
Thayer Street: the commercial street that runs north to south through the middle of it all.

The sciences and engineering buildings cluster to the east and north-east, and the medical school is downtown, in the Jewelry District.

The Van Wickle Gates and the Front Green

The wrought-iron Van Wickle Gates, at the top of College Street, are Brown's ceremonial entrance. The side gates stand open through the year, but the main gates open only twice: inward for new students at Convocation, and outward for graduates at Commencement. Campus superstition says that students who walk through them at any other time are tempting fate.

Behind the gates is the Front Green, also called the Quiet Green, shaded by old trees. At its northern corner stands Carrie Tower, a slim brick clock tower from 1904.

University Hall and the College Green

University Hall faces you across the Front Green. Dating from 1770, when the college moved to Providence from the nearby town of Warren, it is the oldest building on campus and was for decades the whole college: rooms, classrooms and chapel in one. During the Revolutionary War it served as a barracks and hospital for American and French troops.

Walk around it and you reach the College Green, often called the Main Green, the real heart of campus. Sayles Hall, a granite Romanesque hall from 1881, anchors the east side, and Faunce House, at the north end, is the campus centre, with places to eat and the main arch through to Waterman Street.

Three libraries, three characters

The John Hay Library, a white marble building across Prospect Street from the gates, holds Brown's rare books and special collections; it is named after an alumnus who was Abraham Lincoln's private secretary. Next to it, the Rockefeller Library, known as the Rock, is the main library for the humanities and social sciences. A few minutes east, the Sciences Library, nicknamed the SciLi, is a concrete tower that rises fourteen floors above Thayer Street and is visible from much of the city.

Where students live and eat

Many first-year students live in Keeney Quadrangle, a large brick complex south of the greens, or on the Pembroke campus to the north. Pembroke was Brown's coordinate college for women until the two merged in 1971. Wriston Quadrangle, next to Keeney, is home to many older students, and the Sharpe Refectory beside it, known to everyone as the Ratty, is the main dining hall.

The Open Curriculum

What sets Brown apart academically is the Open Curriculum, adopted in 1969. Instead of a required core, students choose their own courses across the university and then complete a concentration, Brown's word for a major.

Thayer Street, RISD and Providence

Thayer Street is the everyday strip: cafés, quick restaurants, a cinema and shops, busy from morning until late. The Rhode Island School of Design, one of the best-known art schools in the country, sits on the western slope of the hill, and its museum on Benefit Street is well worth an hour. Benefit Street itself is lined with restored eighteenth- and nineteenth-century houses.

Downtown Providence is a ten- to fifteen-minute walk down the hill, with the riverfront, restaurants and the railway station. Wickenden Street, south of campus, has independent cafés and shops.

Sport

Brown's teams are the Bears. Most athletic facilities, including the ice rink and the main sports centre, are in a complex on Hope Street, north-east of the central campus, and the football stadium is a little further out in a residential area.

Arranging a visit

Like most universities, Brown typically offers campus tours and admission presentations for prospective students, and the grounds are open to walk through on your own. Arrangements and schedules change through the year, so check the university's official visitor page for what is currently offered.

Getting there and around

By train: Providence station is on the main line between Boston and New York and is also served by commuter trains from Boston. It is at the foot of College Hill, an uphill walk or a short taxi ride from campus.
By air: Rhode Island's main airport is in Warwick, a short drive south of the city. Boston's airport is roughly an hour away by road, traffic permitting.
By car: street parking on College Hill is limited and often time-restricted; look for visitor parking signs or use a downtown garage.
On foot: once you are on the hill, everything in this guide is within a ten-minute walk.

Areas families usually choose

Downtown Providence: the widest choice of hotels, with restaurants and the station close by, and campus a walk up the hill.
College Hill and the East Side: a small number of inns and guesthouses, the most convenient for campus.
Warwick, near the airport: practical if you are driving or flying in late.

Combining Brown with other campuses

Providence is well placed for a New England trip. Boston and Cambridge are about an hour away, so Brown pairs naturally with our Harvard campus tour and MIT campus tour. New Haven is further along the same railway line; see the Yale campus tour.

Tips for a smoother day

Start at the Van Wickle Gates, cross both greens, then loop past the libraries and finish on Thayer Street.
Wear comfortable shoes: the brick pavements are uneven and the hill is steep.
Check the university's visitor page again shortly before your trip, as arrangements change.

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Cover photo: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons