Foundation Building

Cooper Union Stock Photo

By naming a space in The Foundation Building, you have a unique opportunity to build a legacy at The Cooper Union, while providing the institution with crucial support.  Available spaces include classrooms, art studios and breathtaking gallery spaces. 

Completed in 1858, the Foundation Building is the cornerstone of Cooper Union’s heritage.  This landmark building is historic, both in its design and function.  A forerunner of the skyscraper, the Italianate brownstone was the first building in New York to use rolled iron I-beams for structural support, which were designed by Peter Cooper himself.  The Foundation Building houses the Great Hall, which has witnessed some of the most important political and social events of the past two centuries.  Debates in the Great Hall gave birth to the NAACP and the women’s suffrage movement, and the space has hosted speeches by Presidents Lincoln, Roosevelt, Clinton and Obama.

To learn more about naming opportunities in this historic building, contact Jeanne Lunin at jlunin@cooper.edu or (212) 353-4107.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.