"The place where we are must be made beautiful and attractive," the university's first president exhorted Ezra Cornell as they planned their university in the 1860s.

A one-time New York State senator, President Andrew Dickson White made his home on campus, in an ornate house on a rise above the academic buildings. Designed by William H. Miller, then a Cornell architecture student, the house boasts a grand Gothic interior and a solarium displaying an ever-changing array of orchids.

White's successors occupied the house until 1949, when it was turned over to the university and transformed into an art museum. In recent decades, the house has served as the site of receptions, academic conferences, and readings by local authors.