5 colleges whose architecture echoes Harry Potter's Hogwarts

A mishmash of Oxford, Cambridge and every liberal arts college east of the Mississippi, Hogwarts of the "Harry Potter" series is a big-budget architectural embodiment of musty academia at its most atmospheric and haunted.

The inherent creepiness of Gothic architecture is a given in the "Harry Potter" movies, but there's also an undercurrent of romanticism at work -- a romanticism for higher education and the monastic pursuit of knowledge. The abundance of stained glass and the high, cathedral ceilings give the secular Hogwarts campus a quasi-religious feel.

Tapping into that vein, a website called Applywise, devoted to the college admissions process, has formulated a list of five U.S. campuses reminiscent of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Top among the list? The University of Chicago, with its gothic facades, gargoyles and its official seal that prominently features a phoenix -- a recurring image in J.K. Rowling's blockbuster series.

Keep reading for the other universities on the list. And let us know if you think there are other campuses that should have made the list...

The University of Chicago. Illinois.

Credit: University of Chicago

Yale University. New Haven, Conn.

Credit: Yale University

Kenyon College. Gambier, Ohio

Credit: Kenyon College

Bryn Mawr College. Bryn Mawr, Penn.

Credit: Bryn Mawr College.

Cornell University. Ithaca, N.Y.

Photo: The main reading room of the Cornell University Library, circa 1900. Courtesy: the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

-- David Ng

Top photo: Daniel Radcliffe in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Comments

[Linda]

Cornell is very interesting, but the photo used is of a building torn down in the middle of the last century and replaced with a 1950's steel, glass, and limestone structure.

[Bill]

None of these fake colleges can rival the real thing, the dining hall of my Oxford college, Pembroke. Bill, Pembroke College, Oxford '57

[stephanie]

University of Vermont-- some buildings at least. Specifically, Converse Hall.

[Madison Claire]

Interesting set of colleges.

I've only seen 4/5 of those, but I'd say BRYN MAWR bares the greatest resemblance, in more ways than one. (That's an all women's College, I believe (?).) In any case they have a Great Hall, their dorms look like castles, there are owls EVERYWHERE, and their cloisters look like something right out of the film.

I've only been their twice though, so maybe I just got a strong first impression ... but that school also seemed like it would have the most "magic." (I heard that they even have an elaborate tradition with black robes.) ^_^;;

The Cornell picture also looks quite good.

Interesting article.

[Chloe]

Wasn't Sewanee modeled after Kenyon??

[AV]

Kenyon's new dining hall is especially Hogwartsesque: http://www.kenyon.edu/x45561.xml

[MJ Curtis]

Minor correction on Julie's comment: Mount Holyoke dates back to 1837. It is the oldest women's college in the world. (But we'd let Harry in!)

[Dobby]

cascia hall prep in oklahoma is a hogwarts look alike. we occassionally have bats in the towers and of course have houses and prep school uniforms to complete the harry potter ambiance.

check it ou:

http://i25.tinypic.com/2nk5461.jpg

http://www.privateschoolreview.com/photos/large_1_22456.jpg

[laura]

St Olaf College in Minnesota was dubbed "Hogwarts for Lutherans". i'm an employee there.

[JTW]

Right in one: The University of Chicago

[isw1214]

Also about University of Chicago:

We have the house system and undergrads go by 1st year, 2nd year, etc.

Not to mention Hutchinson Hall, a near replica of a Christ Church, Oxford hall which has been used in Harry Potter films. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchinson_Hall,_University_of_Chicago)

[Jackson Smith]

How can these colleges echo the architecture of Hogwarts when they were built before Hogwarts was created by JK Rowling?

[Jordanna]

I agree with Assya, Georgetown University resembles Hogwarts, especially when it snows.

[aardvark89]

try Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL. There is even an owl that lives in the courtyard, and ghosts in the main building!

[Danyell]

Loyola University New Orleans, definitely. Our school colors are even maroon and gold, so Gryffindors would fit right in. :)

[Bus Schedule]

The Historic Section of the Univerisity of Florida

[roxy]

The Suzzallo Library Reading Room at the University of Washington is known as the "Harry Potter Room"

[Denise]

The University of Richmond looks a lot like Hogwarts, in places. I love it.

[Michael Alexander]

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va

[Gillian]

How about Connecticut College in New London, CT?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/ConnecticutCollege.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ctgreenscene.typepad.com/ct_green_scene/images/2008/10/11/354506_loretto_abbey_2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ctgreenscene.typepad.com/ct_green_scene/2008/10/connecticut-sch.html&usg=__NrgrbZ6xMktVvTdW2-qPjbypvz4=&h=468&w=350&sz=28&hl=en&start=25&sig2=o6M8THOKDsz-aIpWj7RhSw&um=1&tbnid=Wqlnwqa7UI7KXM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dconnecticut%2Bcollege%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3DVFA_enUS244US246%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1&ei=uQ8bS-fMEp_h8Abtp9HoAw

http://www.conncoll.edu/images/content/HP-Cam-003.jpg