When it came to the Cornell Arts Quad, historian Morris Bishop wrote, "A rare opportunity for campus planning was explored and lost." Ezra Cornell and Andrew D. White had visited Oxford, Harvard and Yale for inspiration for the layout of their new university. White engaged Frederick Law Olmstead, the designer of Central Park, as landscape consultant. But Olmstead's vision called for emphasis on natural features and plantings; White "had been dreaming since boyhood of Quadrangles," according to Bishop. Out went Olmstead's wild bushes and buildings arranged at unusual angles. In came classical restraint and manicured lawns. The university's first three structures -- White, McGraw and Morrill halls, built with local bluestone -- take advantage of the western valley view from the Arts Quad's hilltop perch.

-- Adapted by George Lowery from Morris Bishop's "A History of Cornell."