{"nrhp_refnum":"74001269","name":"Founder's Hall, The Rockefeller University","other_names":["Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"66th St. and York Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.76248877450004,"lon":-73.95520229437699,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-09-13","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1974-05-30","areas_of_significance":["Science","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Founder's Hall is the first laboratory building of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now The Rockefeller University), at 66th Street and York Avenue in Manhattan. It was built in 1905-06 to plans by the Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge.","why_significant":"The Rockefeller Institute, founded in 1901, was the first of the great philanthropic foundations, aimed at attacking disease through research. Its first laboratory opened in 1906, and Institute scientists went on to make landmark medical discoveries, including a meningitis serum, tryparsamide, advances in arterial surgery and the antibiotic gramicidin.","narrative":"Founder's Hall, at 66th Street and York Avenue in Manhattan, was the first laboratory building of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. John D. Rockefeller bought the site, a rocky plateau above the East River, and the building opened on May 11, 1906. Designed by the Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, it is a fireproof, steel-frame structure of yellowish-grey brick and limestone, five stories tall, with a simple facade and a modest portico of two Ionic columns. Welch Hall was added behind it in 1927, and an enclosed walkway links it to other Institute buildings. It is listed because the Institute, founded in 1901, was the first of the great philanthropic foundations devoted to research. Work here and at the Institute produced a meningitis serum, the drug tryparsamide, advances in arterial surgery and the antibiotic gramicidin. The building still serves its original laboratory purpose.","period_of_significance":"1906-","architect_builder":"Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge (Boston)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent and altered; the building continues to serve its original function as a laboratory.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.4886-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/74001269_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001269/5627c69e92-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001269/5627c69e92-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Dmadeo","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Founders-hall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dmadeo</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Founders-hall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315970","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founder%27s_Hall_(Rockefeller_University)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5474593"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/founders-hall-the-rockefeller-university-74001269/"}