Davenport College is one of the fourteen residential colleges of Yale University. Its buildings were completed in 1933 mainly in the Georgian style but with a gothic façade along York Street. The college was named for John Davenport, who founded Yale's home city of New Haven, Connecticut. An extensive renovation of the college's buildings occurred during the 2004–2005 academic year as part of Yale's comprehensive building renovation project. Davenport College has an unofficial rivalry with adjoining Pierson College.
Upper Courtyard viewed from the Crosspiece. Harkness Tower can be seen in the background
Davenport College, Upper Courtyard viewed from York St. Gate.
Welch Hall circa 1895. From Yale Yarns: Sketches of Life at Yale University by John Seymour Wood. (New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1895.)
Residential colleges of Yale University
Yale University has a system of fourteen residential colleges with which all Yale undergraduate students and many faculty are affiliated. Inaugurated in 1933, the college system is considered the defining feature of undergraduate life at Yale College, and the residential colleges serve as the residence halls and social hubs for most undergraduates. Construction and programming for eight of the original ten colleges were funded by educational philanthropist Edward S. Harkness. Yale was, along with Harvard, one of the first universities in the United States to establish a residential college system.
The campuses of Davenport College (above) and Pierson College (below), Yale's two Georgian Revival colleges
The Memorial Quadrangle, completed in 1920, was the colleges' residential template.
Edward Harkness, who funded the construction of eight colleges in 1930
The Berkeley Oval, a student dormitory torn down for Berkeley College