Georgian Court University
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Georgian Court University is a private Roman Catholic university, intended mostly for women, located in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Founded as a college for women, in 1908 by the Sisters of Mercy of New Jersey. The day division enrolls only women, while the night division is coeducational. There are about 950 full-time and 400 part-time undergraduate, and 800 graduate students, of whom about ninety per cent are women. The college became a university when it achieved that status in the early 2000s.
Since being given as a donation in 1924, the educational institution has been located on the historic, former estate of Edith M. Kingdon and George Jay Gould I, who married in October of 1886. George Jay Gould I was the son of Jay Gould (1836-1892) and Helen Day Miller (1838-1889). Upon his father's death George inherited the Gould fortune and his father's railroad holdings.
After their marriage Edith and George believed Lakewood would be an ideal location for their new home and hired the New York architect, Bruce Price, to build their home, which they named, Georgian Court. The laying out of this Neo-Georgian residence was one of the residential works that made Price famous.
In 1896, the architect was hired to transform the site into the replica of a Georgian country house. Since the sandy soils of the New Jersey Pine Barrens were not suitable for cultivating exotic plants, 5,000 cartloads of fine loam were brought to Georgian Court from neighboring Monmouth County. Price designed three of the four major gardens, the Italian Garden, the Sunken Garden, and the Formal Garden. Takeo Shiota designed the Japanese Garden. Georgian Court is also home to the Sister Mary Grace Burns Arboretum.
Price later became the architect of many of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Château-type stations and hotels and designed entire communities such as Tuxedo Park, a vacation community in New York. The Shingle style houses Price built at Tuxedo, with their compact massing and axial plans, influenced several young architects including Frank Lloyd Wright.
On February 4, 1985, Georgian Court was designated a National Historic Landmark. The historic aspects of the campus include the only real tennis court at an American school. There are approximately forty-five court tennis courts remaining in the world today and only several thousand active players. This one is located in what is called, the Casino, the court was restored in 2005.
[edit] External links
 Japanese Garden |
 Sculptural detail |
 Jeu de paume, real tennis, shown in a seventeenth century illustration |
| Conference for Mercy Higher Education |
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| Carlow University • College Misericordia • College of Saint Mary • Georgian Court University • Gwynedd-Mercy College • Maria College of Albany• Mercy College of Northwest Ohio • Mercyhurst College • Mount Aloysius College • Mount Mercy College • Salve Regina University • St. Joseph College • St. Joseph's College • St. Xavier University • Trocaire College • University of Detroit Mercy |
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Categories: Northeastern United States university stubs | Educational institutions established in 1908 | Ocean County, New Jersey | Real tennis venues | Sea-grant universities and colleges | National Historic Landmarks of the United States | Universities and colleges in New Jersey | Women's universities and colleges in the United States | Roman Catholic universities and colleges in the United States | Registered Historic Places in New Jersey
