Hamilton’s Windows Are More Than a Century Old

Did you know that the stained-glass Tiffany windows in the Hamilton Hall lobby are more than 100 years old? Students have been watched over by Sophocles and Vergil since Hamilton was renovated in 2003, but the larger-than-life windows have a much longer history. The Sophocles window dates to around 1890 and was part of the Midtown campus, while the Vergil window was created in the early 1900s, after Columbia moved to Morningside Heights. The windows were in Columbia’s Art Properties archive for more than 50 years, until the early 2000s, when then-College dean Austin E. Quigley rediscovered them. Due to their safe storage, the windows had almost all of their original glass and leadwork; they were restored, then installed in Hamilton for new generations of students to enjoy.