Westlands – Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York

In the late 1800’s, William Van Duzer Lawrence, a pharmaceutical magnate, envisioned a community of artists and other creative people who would move from Manhattan and live together in well-designed homes in a countrified setting. Completed in 1917, it is the oldest building on the Sarah Lawrence College campus and was home to Sarah Bates Lawrence and William Van Duzer Lawrence before being given to the college that they endowed.

Westlands is primarily an administrative building, but its top floor houses a number of student living spaces. Dynamically situated at the highest point of elevation on the campus, it is example of English Tudor architecture by Bates & How. When completed the home was pictured on the front page of the New York Times. It has been the heart of the campus throughout the history of the College and, owing to its massive size, it now houses the president’s offices, the Office of Admission, the Office of Financial Aid, the Office of the Registrar, the Office of International Programs, the Career Counseling Office, the offices of all of the College’s deans, and a number of meeting spaces in addition to the top-floor dorms.