Phelps Gate – Old Campus

Phelps Gate, completed in 1896, serves as the grand entrance to Old Campus from College Street. Designed by architect Charles C. Haight, the building and its central archway were part of Yale’s late-19th-century effort to transform the formerly open, irregular Old Campus into a cohesive quadrangle. The gate quickly became a symbolic threshold—through which enter both freshmen students in Yale College during their first day on campus, as well as graduates of Yale schools and programs on Commencement Day. Its tower originally housed the Yale College registrar and later various administrative offices.  An especially visible, timeless, and classic fixture on Old Campus, the building—appropriately—is now home for Yale’s Classics department.