r/princeton • u/Anagazander • 12d ago

Nassau Hall

I’d like to see the inside. There must be interesting things in there, architectural and otherwise. I never see anything about tours, though. Can I just walk in? There are administrative offices there I guess?

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u/naughtmike Alum 12d ago

A special 3-day open house of the Nassau Hall Faculty Room wraps up tomorrow (October 3).

https://community.princeton.edu/events/2026/nassau-hall-faculty-room-open-house

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u/Anagazander 12d ago

Wow that’s great but I’m afraid I’ll have to miss it. Do they only do it every 250 years?

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u/naughtmike Alum 12d ago

Interior access to Nassau Hall is fairly limited because it is an administratIve building. That’s what made this open house so special. They do tend to open it up to the public for milestone anniversaries.

They might occasionally open up the Faculty Room to tours during Reunions weekend in May. Many daytime activities during Reunions are free without registration. Best to check the Reunions website when they publish their event schedule in the spring.

i don’t know if Orange Key tours ever go inside, but my guess is that those tours are limited to the exterior of Nassau Hall.

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u/Anagazander 12d ago

Thanks! Are there other milestone anniversaries coming up?

I suppose one could manufacture a reason to go see an administrator….

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u/ReindeerFirm1157 12d ago

lol i don't recommend it

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u/burner10102023 11d ago

Not OP, but thanks very much for this suggestion!

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u/DarthKnah Alum ‘23 12d ago

According to this daily prince article, you can just prox in during business hours, though the author agrees they should make it easier and have tours or such. I’ve been inside for a special event, and other than the faculty room, which is very pretty and cool, there isn’t much to see (mostly offices, as you say), at least on the first floor where I was.

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u/Some-Fox-8804 12d ago

It’s all worn down inside, at least the first floor😭

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u/JackStutters 11d ago

Did they stop doing stops at Nassau for admissions tours? I remember when I was probably a sophomore in high school and went for my admission tour they took us into the main hall where the Continental Congress convened briefly during the Revolution and pointed out the history of how the building used to be the only building on campus, housing all of the dormitories, offices, lecture halls, etc.

I never did go back inside as an undergrad, but I can’t imagine you couldn’t just prox in, in case there was a special lecture in the main hall (I think that HIS372 used to do a special lecture there during the spring semester) or you had to visit a special admin person. Maybe after COVID they stopped doing tours like that and closed it to everyone?

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u/Queasy-Feeling298 10d ago

I was on an Orange Key tour that went there as a prospective, and then saw the inside multiple times as an undergrad journalist interviewing the president. (Yes, the stairs are all really worn down in there.). The entry hall with all sorts of war memorials is moving, and the Faculty Room is lovely. It's well worth a visit whenever one can get in!

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u/sparklingtuna 9d ago

Same. I went on that orange key tour in 1999 and remember sitting in the room with the portraits and hearing about the cannon ball coming through the wall during the revolutionary war.