Trumbull College

Trumbull College, opened in 1933, was one of Yale’s original residential colleges and the only one funded by John W. Sterling rather than Edward Harkness. Designed by James Gamble Rogers, the college was built by linking and expanding two existing dormitories that once flanked Yale’s Old Gymnasium—a hulking Victorian structure that had served generations of students before being demolished to make way for the new college. Yale initially planned to name the college after John C. Calhoun, but in deference to Sterling, a Connecticut Civil War veteran, the name was changed to honor Revolutionary-era governor Jonathan Trumbull. Rogers went to great lengths to give the new college an authentically timeworn look, distressing stone, repairing windows with extra leading, and leaving empty niches to suggest long-lost statuary. Known as Yale’s smallest residential college by number of students housed, Trumbull’s community is especially closeknit, and the aesthetic of its outdoor spaces are closely tied to that of neighboring Sterling Memorial Library.