Winants Hall
historic educational building in New Brunswick, New Jersey
Winants Hall is a historic educational building located on the Queens Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Designed by Van Campen Taylor and completed in 1890, Winants Hall is the oldest dormitory building at Rutgers University, known then as Rutgers College. The building was a gift to the university from Board of Trustees member and Bayonne businessman, Garrett E. Winants, and cost $75,000. The construction of the dormitory satisfied many long-awaited needs of the college. The new residential system also fostered a thriving social atmosphere for students, staff, and guests as it served as a student dormitory from 1890 to 1947.
It is a contributing property in the Queens Campus, Rutgers University Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1973.
History
When Garrett E. Winants donated money to Rutgers College for the creation of its first dormitory, he stipulated that the building expressly be used “only by the students of Rutgers College...and be kept in good and reasonable repair at the expense of said college.” The cornerstone was laid by Winants on June 18, 1889 during a celebration of faculty and students. By September 1890, the building was completed and provided accommodations for about 85 students. Rooms were chosen by students on the basis of seniority, with the older students getting first pick. The students paid rent in advance before the start of the semester.
“Winants Hall” enters the record as historic educational building in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Winants, Hall and historic can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Winants Hall” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Winants, Hall and historic provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18159219. Authority coordinates are 40.498, -74.447. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1890, 1947, 1973 and 1889.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Winants Hall” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.