Campus Club

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Campus Club is one of Princeton University’s undergraduate eating clubs. It sits at 5 Prospect Ave, at the corner of Washington Road and Prospect Avenue in Princeton, New Jersey. The building was built in 1909 and designed by Raleigh C. Gildersleeve in the Collegiate Gothic style. It is part of the Princeton Historic District and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Campus Club began in 1900. For many years it admitted members non-selectively, without using the bicker process. In 2004, the club’s leaders tried to bring back bicker to boost popularity, making it one of six selective clubs. Members did not like this change, and the club returned to a sign-in system in spring 2005. Facing low membership and money problems, Campus Club closed later that year.

In November 2005, alumni voted to donate the building to the university, with the condition that the 11,000-square-foot mansion remain a social venue for Princeton students. After more than two years of renovations, Campus Club reopened on September 18, 2009 as a clubhouse open to all members of the Princeton community.

Earlier history includes students from two now-defunct clubs living at a temporary house called “The Incubator” on Olden Street in 1900–01. In 1901 Campus Club agreed to buy Professor Andrew Fleming West’s residence at the corner of Washington Road and Prospect Avenue, funded by about $45,000 in Campus Club Bonds. In 1909 the new clubhouse was built, and the West house was moved to Nassau Street and Princeton Avenue. The building was completed just before the 1910 commencement. A fire in 1951 damaged the third floor, and major renovations were finished in 1953, lasting until the club was acquired by the university in 2005.