Yale University

Yale University is a private Ivy League university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School by Congregationalist clergy, and it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale awarded the first PhD in the country in 1861.

It became a university in 1887 and today has fifteen schools. The globe model shows Harkness Tower, a 66 m Gothic stone tower that holds a carillon, a set of bells played with a keyboard. Its main campus is in downtown New Haven, and the university also owns athletic fields, a campus in West Haven and forests and nature preserves around New England.

Harkness Tower

Harkness Tower is part of the Memorial Quadrangle, completed in 1922. It was built between 1917 and 1921 and named for Charles William Harkness, who died young. His mother, Anna M. Harkness, gave the funds.

It was designed by James Gamble Rogers. It is 216 feet, or 66 m, tall, and it was inspired by the 15th-century tower of St Botolph's church in Boston, England, called the Boston Stump.

Inside and out

From the street to the roof the tower has 284 steps. Four copper clock faces tell the hours, and the carillon bells hang behind them.

Sculptures by Lee Lawrie show Yale's Eight Worthies, ancient thinkers such as Homer and Aristotle, and gargoyles of students at work and play. A well-known story says acid was poured on the walls to make them look old, but Wikipedia notes that the Washington Monument was already the tallest free-standing stone structure.

On the globe

The model shows Harkness Tower, tall and Gothic, with a slim crown at the top. Look for the four clock faces and the pointed stone finials.