Pratt Institute

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Pratt Institute
The Pratt Institute
Motto Be True To Your Work And Your Work Will be True To You
Established 1887
Type Private
President President Thomas F. Schutte
Faculty 899
Undergraduates 3,070
Postgraduates 1,607
Location Brooklyn, NY, USA
Campus Urban
25 acres (10 hectares)
Colors black and gold
Mascot the Cannoneer
Affiliations Pratt at Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Delaware College of Art and Design
Website www.pratt.edu

Pratt Institute is a specialized, private college in New York City with campuses in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Pratt is one of the leading art schools in the United States and offers programs in art, architecture, fashion design, design, creative writing, library science, and other areas. Pratt is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), a consortium of thirty-six leading art schools in the United States.

Charles Pratt (1830-1891) was an early pioneer of the natural oil industry in the United States. He was founder of Astral Oil Works in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, New York. He joined with his protégé Henry H. Rogers to form Charles Pratt and Company in 1867. Both companies became part of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil in 1874.

Pratt is credited with recognizing the growing need for trained industrial workers in a changing economy. In 1886, he founded and endowed the Pratt Institute, which opened in Brooklyn in 1887.

Traditionally an innovator in education, the Fashion Design department evolved out of a unique program started in 1888 when Pratt's Women's Department offered courses in fashion design and needle craft. This made Pratt the first college to offer a degree in fashion design in the United States. In 1971, the fashion program moved to the School of Art and Design, a change that has enabled the departments to offer interdisciplinary studies with other creative design areas.

The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY
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The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY
Higgins Hall center section rebuilt by Steven Holl
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Higgins Hall center section rebuilt by Steven Holl
Charles Pratt, Founder
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Charles Pratt, Founder

Contents

[edit] History of Pratt

On October 17, 1887, twelve young people climbed the stairs of the new "Main" building and began to fulfill the dream of Charles Pratt as the first students at Pratt Institute.

Charles Pratt, one of eleven children, was born the son of a Massachusetts carpenter in 1830. He managed to scrape a few dollars together and spend three winters as a student at Wesleyan Academy, and is said to have lived on a dollar a week at times. In Boston, he joined a company specializing in paints and whale oil products. When he came to New York, he worked for a similar company and expanded the interest to Astral Oil. When the company split, Charles Pratt owned the oil business and turned it into the most successful such company in Brooklyn, eventually merging with Standard Oil.

Charles Pratt's fortunes increased and he became a leading figure in Brooklyn, serving his community and his profession. A philanthropist and visionary, he supported many of Brooklyn's major institutions including the Adelphi Academy and the building of Emmanuel Baptist Church.

He always regretted, however, his own limited education and dreamed of founding an institution where pupils could learn trades through the skillful use of their hands. This dream was realized when Pratt Institute opened its doors over 100 years ago. Only four years after the opening, Charles Pratt died, leaving the job of guiding the Institute through its early years to his sons, primarily his eldest son, Charles Millard Pratt, who was President of the Board from 1891-1893 and Frederic B. Pratt, who was President of the Board from 1893-1937, before the position passed to his own son Charles Pratt.

The energy, foresight, money and spirit Charles Pratt gave to his dream remains even today. Here careers are molded, and goals, like those of Charles Pratt, are encouraged. Inscribed on the seal of the Institute is the motto:

Be True To Your Work And Your Work Will Be True To You

[edit] Campus

Pratt Institute is a closed campus with three public entrances, one of which closes in the evening hours. The main gate on Willoughby Avenue is guarded by a security post 24 hours a day. Buildings on campus include the Library, Dekalb Hall, ISC Building, Main Building, North Hall, East Building, Student Union, Memorial Hall, Machinery Building, Chemistry Building, Engineering Building, Pratt Studios, Steuben Hall, and the ARC building. There is also on campus housing for faculty. Off campus building includes the newly renovated Higgins Hall which contains all the Architecture studios.

[edit] Residence Halls

All residence hall students are provided with a bed (twin extra-long), a drafting table, a chair and a dresser. Students residing in a dorm on campus are required to be on a mandatory meal plan (Stabile, Cannonner, ELJ and Pantas), while those off campus are able to sign-up for an optional meal plan (Willoughby and Grand Avenue).

[edit] Cannoneer Court

Cannoneer Court, or "The Can", has been deemed "Pratt's Best-Kept Secret" and is considered the best dormitory on campus by many of its residents. It was designed by famed architecture firm SOM in 1986 and constructed using a then-unique form of modular construction. Each individual dorm room was constructed off-site and then set into place like building blocks. It accommodates 94 students between two hallways. This traditional corridor style residence houses students in double rooms. Bathrooms are communal. The traditional nature and small size of this residence hall promote strong community and allow a great amount of building wide student social exchange. The building has a lounge and work area as well as a garden courtyard. The rooms are air conditioned and carpeted. Although it was meant for temporary housing in 1986, this building still stands today as an "overflow" dormitory.

[edit] Esther Lloyd-Jones Hall

Esther Lloyd Jones Hall is named for a trend-setter in modern American higher education. ELJ accommodates students single and double rooms. ELJ is comprised primarily upperclassmen continuing students; vacancies for new transfer and graduate students sometimes do occur.

[edit] Leo J. Pantas Hall

Designed by SOM in 1986, Leo J. Pantas domitory sits centrally located on campus. Students live in four-person suites, which consist of two double-rooms (two people in each double-room). Each suite has its own bathroom. Suites are single sex, but floors are coed. Each suite is responsible for the healthy upkeep of the common bathroom area. The building boasts a large work area in addition to a dramatic main lounge area with large screen TV and pool table. It’s central location on campus make it desirable to students. Its clock tower serving as a campus landmark. In the Fall Semester of 2004, room 207 caught fire due to an electrical short. The fire burned for several minutes prior to the fire alarm sounding. FDNY responded with some 14 engines and took the blaze under control. The entire suite (207 and 208) had extensive damage due to smoke and room 207 had immense fire and water damage. Nobody was home at the time of the fire.

[edit] Grand Avenue

Grand Avenue Residence is home to new and continuing graduate students. The building can accommodate 50 students in efficiency apartments (double and single) and private single rooms within two and three-bedroom apartments. A double efficiency is two students sharing a one-room apartment (with kitchen and bath). A single efficiency is one student in a private one room apartment (with kitchen and bath. A shared single is two or more students, each with their own private bedroom, sharing kitchen, bath and living room. The building is located one block from campus. Each living room is furnished with a sofa, club chair, coffee table, kitchen table and chairs.

[edit] Willoughby Hall

Willoughby Residence Hall is a former 16 (no 13th floor) story apartment co-op, and is the largest residence hall. It accommodates 800 undergraduate men and women. Some apartments are now coed. In addition to the standard furniture, all apartments have a kitchen table, stove and refrigerator. Each resident is provided with a bookcase. All students assigned to double, triple and single spaces will share kitchen and bathroom facilities with other residents of the apartment. The converted apartments consist of: at least one double or triple that occupies the former living room space of the apartment; at least one private single room that occupies the former bedroom space of the apartment. The number of students residing in a given apartment ranges from 2–6 students (depending upon the size of the converted apartment - one bedroom, two bedroom or three bedroom). Although Willoughby Hall allows for a lot of area per resident, it is poorly maintained. Also, because of the numerous residents in the building, food scraps and garbage accumulate attracting cockroaches and rats to all of the rooms in the building. An exterminator is on-site once a week to take care of this problem though it does little to solve the recurring problem.

[edit] Stabile Hall

Vincent A. Stabile Hall opened in the Fall of 1999. Named for the donor and graduate of the Engineering School, Stabile Hall was designed for new undergraduate students. It houses 240 students in four person suites. Each suite consists of two double rooms with a shared bath. Suites are single sex, but floors are coed. With few exceptions, the room dimensions, not including the small entry foyer, are 12 x 12. Each suite is responsible for the healthy upkeep of the common bathroom area. There are kitchenettes located on each floor. The award-winning design of the building boasts a large common lounge with smaller work and lounge spaces on each floor all of which contribute to a vital living and working environment. Stabile Hall is also notorious for its frequent fire alarms. The building's fire detection system utilizes state-of-the-art combination particle and ionization detectors which are placed near the bathroom doors in each suite. Consequently, every time a resident takes a shower with the bathroom door open, the steam covers the detectors and triggers a false alarm.

[edit] Schools

  • School of Architecture
  • School of Art and Design
  • School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • School of Information and Library Sciences
  • Center for Continuing Education and Professional Studies

[edit] Notable Alumni and Former Students

[edit] Trivia

The school had a radio station in the mid 1980s which broadcast on a limited-range signal. After students modified the broadcast tower, the FCC stepped in and shut it down. The station later re-emerged in 2001 as an internet-only station and continues to broadcast from http://www.prattradio.com.

The library at Pratt Institute, opened in 1888 to serve not only students but the general public as well, was the first free public library in Brooklyn. The architect on the building was William Tubby of Brooklyn. The decoration in the building was done by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company.

Several scenes of the 1978 best-selling pornographic movie Debbie Does Dallas were shot in the Pratt Institute library without the administration's approval.

Segments of the 1990 movie Jacob's Ladder were filmed at Pratt, as well as scenes for the 2006 film The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert DeNiro. Some episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit have been filmed on campus.

Pratt has a closed-circuit television station, PRATT TV, located on channel 66 on campus. (Founded in 2000).Until recently, the channel was home to a blank VCR screen.

Pratt's Brooklyn campus is home to a number of cats which are known as the 'Pratt Cats'.

The school's colors are black and cadmium yellow deep.

The school depicted in the film Art School Confidential is based on the experiences of former Pratt student and comic book artist Daniel Clowes.

The school has a team mascot for its sports teams called the Cannoneer, as in the person who shoots a cannon. This relates to the former military outpost on the southern end of the campus which looked over what was the Irish ghetto of Bed-Stuy.

The oldest continually functioning elevator in all of Brooklyn, installed in 1910, was located at Pratt's Main Building, until it was upgraded in October, 2004.

[edit] References

[edit] External links


Northeast U.S. Art Colleges
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