The Great Hall at Cooper Union

The Great Hall is tucked into the basement of the Foundation Building, a structure that was built on a bold assumption. When Peter Cooper commissioned the building in the eighteen fifties, he included a vertical shaft for an elevator even though the technology to operate one did not yet exist. He was so confident in the future of invention that he designed the building around a machine he expected to be created shortly after its completion. This forward-looking spirit defines the hall itself, which opened in eighteen fifty-eight as a platform for public debate and social reform.