Harkness Tower, New Haven (must see)

Harkness Tower is a prominent masonry structure located at Yale University in New Haven. Completed in 1922 as part of the Collegiate Gothic Memorial Quadrangle, the tower stands as a tribute to Charles William Harkness, a Yale graduate from the Class of 1883 and the brother of Edward S. Harkness, one of Yale’s most generous benefactors. It was donated by their mother, Anna M. Harkness, in memory of Charles.

Designed by architect James Gamble Rogers, a Yale College classmate of Edward Harkness, the tower was built between 1917 and 1921. It marked the first modern construction of a couronne ("crown") tower in the English Perpendicular Gothic style. Rogers drew inspiration from England’s 15th-century Boston Stump and the tower of Saint Giles' Church in Wrexham, Wales—the latter notably housing the tomb of Elihu Yale, the university's namesake.

Standing at 216 feet (66 meters), the tower was intentionally built with one foot every year since Yale’s founding at the time of construction. Its design includes a square base rising through multiple stages to an octagonal crown adorned with stone finials. It contains 284 steps from the ground to the rooftop.

Harkness Tower became part of Branford College when Yale’s residential college system launched in 1933. A major renovation took place between 2009 and 2010 to restore the tower’s masonry and architectural details.

Midway up Harkness Tower, four copper clockfaces mark the time, with the Yale Memorial Carillon bells ringing behind them. Below, the tower houses the carillon console, practice instruments, office space for the Yale Guild of Carillonneurs, a disused water tank, a historic chimes console, and a memorial chapel. Now an iconic Yale symbol, the tower even features on The Yale Herald masthead and inspired the Cathedral of Christ the King in Hamilton, Ontario.