Gretchen Cobb (B.Arch '09) gives a tour of the grounds of the Caroline Ladd Pratt House.Participants in the eighth annual Open House New York tour on October 9 and 10 had a rare chance to visit and learn about the history and architecture of two unique Pratt buildings — the Caroline Ladd Pratt House and Higgins Hall.
On Clinton Street, tour guide Gretchen Cobb told tourists that the Pratt House was completed in 1897 and given by Pratt founder Charles Pratt to his son Frederick, who served as Pratt’s president between 1923 and 1927. The three-story mansion, is now the residence for Pratt’s president and is used for official Pratt functions.
A few blocks away, visitors toured Higgins Hall, a New York City-landmarked building that began as an elementary and high school in the 1860s, then was acquired by Pratt in 1965. After a serious fire destroyed the Center Section of Higgins Hall in 1996, Pratt built a new home for the School of Architecture, creating a 26,000-square-foot building with a multilevel glass-enclosed entrance.
Photo: Diana Pau