Campus Beauty Contest Calls Harvard a Winner

Harvard is one of the 35 most beautiful college campuses in the United States, according to the recently-published The Campus as a Work of Art.

Written by Thomas A. Gaines, the book highlighted 50 college campuses, after rating them on architectural quality, landscape, space usage and overall appeal.

"Harvard has a wonderful sense of place," Gaines said. "The old Yard preserved a marvelous untidy character and puritanical simplicity."

But Gaines said some of the newer University buildings were not as aesthetically pleasing.

"Harvard started out quite well with buildings such as University Hall," Gaines said. "Later, Harvard hired very good architects but didn't control them, and each built a monument to himself, which accounts for buildings like Gund Hall and the Science Center."

Harvard received 17 out of a possible 20 points, placing it in the third tier of national campuses in terms of beauty.

Princeton University, Stanford University and Wellesley College were some of the schools Gaines considered the best of college campuses.