Columbia University Campus Tour

Free Columbia University Campus Tour with Roamee Pro

Roamee Pro offers a free Columbia University campus tour with audio narration. Explore Low Memorial Library, Butler Library, Manhattanville Campus, plus hidden spots like The Steps and Tom's Restaurant, at your own pace without booking a group tour.

• •Low Memorial Library — Completed in 1897 and designed by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White, this neoclassical granite building is the visual heart of Columbia. Its Ionic colonnade and grand dome (inspired by the Pantheon) anchor the campus's main axis. The Alma Mater statue on the front steps, sculpted by Daniel Chester French in 1903, depicts Athena enthroned with an owl hidden in the folds of her robe
• •Butler Library — Completed in 1934 and designed by James Gamble Rogers in a Classical Revival style, Butler is Columbia's largest library, holding over two million volumes. Its facade facing Low Library is inscribed with the names of great Western writers and thinkers
• •Manhattanville Campus — Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and opening in phases since 2017, this 17-acre expansion into West Harlem represents Columbia's first major campus expansion in a century. The Jerome L. Greene Science Center, the first building completed, features a transparent ground floor inviting the public in. The centerpiece is 'The Forum,' a below-grade event space topped by a glass canopy. The Henry R. Kravis Hall (Business School) and the Lenfest Center for the Arts complete the initial phase, all connected by a landscaped 'Small Square' designed to blend campus and neighborhood.
• •St. Paul's Chapel — Completed in 1907 and designed by Howells & Stokes in a Northern Italian Byzantine style, this intimate chapel is one of Columbia's finest interior spaces. Its most remarkable feature is the ceiling: Guastavino tile vaulting in cream-colored terra cotta creates a series of interlocking arches that seem to float without support. The chapel seats 500 and hosts concerts, weddings, and interfaith services. Rafael Guastavino's tile-vaulting technique, also used at Grand Central Terminal, creates extraordinary acoustics.

• •Low Memorial Library — Beaux-Arts building completed in 1897, designed by McKim, Mead & White and funded by Seth Low in memory of his father. No longer a working library; it houses administrative offices. The bronze 'Alma Mater' statue by Daniel Chester French (1903) sits on its front steps.
• •Butler Library — The main undergraduate and humanities library, completed in 1934 and designed by James Gamble Rogers. Its facade is inscribed with names of classical writers and thinkers including Homer, Herodotus, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, Cicero and Virgil. Open around the clock during exam periods.
• •St. Paul's Chapel — Completed in 1907, designed by Howells & Stokes in an Italian Renaissance/Byzantine style with a tile dome by the Guastavino firm. A New York City designated landmark used for concerts, services and events.
• •Pulitzer Hall (Journalism Building) — Completed in 1912, home of the Graduate School of Journalism founded with a bequest from Joseph Pulitzer. The Pulitzer Prizes have been administered by Columbia since 1917.

• •The Steps — Low Library's front steps are Columbia's version of a town square — the informal social heart of campus where students gather to eat lunch, sunbathe on warm days, stage protests, and hold rallies. The wide granite steps face south toward Butler Library, creating a natural amphitheater effect. The tradition of 'sitting on the Steps' is so central to Columbia culture that alumni often describe it as the defining experience of their undergraduate years.
• •Tom's Restaurant — This Broadway diner at 2880 Broadway (112th Street) has been a Columbia neighborhood fixture since 1936, but gained global fame when its exterior was used as the establishing shot for the fictional 'Monk's Cafe' in every episode of Seinfeld. Inside, the vinyl booths and counter remain mostly unchanged. Suzanne Vega wrote her song 'Tom's Diner' about sitting in this restaurant, making it perhaps the most culturally referenced diner in America.

• •Tom's Restaurant (Broadway at 112th Street), the diner whose exterior appeared in 'Seinfeld' and inspired Suzanne Vega's song 'Tom's Diner.'
• •Koronet Pizza (Broadway near 110th Street), known for oversized New York-style pizza slices.
• •Hamilton Deli (near Amsterdam Avenue and 116th Street), a longtime campus deli for cheap bagels and sandwiches.
• •Joe Coffee, a cafe on Broadway near the main campus gates.
• •Halal carts and other food carts stationed along Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue near campus.

Did you know? Columbia is the oldest institution of higher education in New York State and the fifth-oldest in the United States, founded in 1754 as King's College, two decades before the American Revolution. Its original Lower Manhattan location was near what is now City Hall, and it moved to the Morningside Heights campus in 1897.

Undergraduate Admissions offers information sessions and student-led campus tours, scheduled through the Columbia Undergraduate Admissions website with advance registration since capacity fills quickly. The Morningside Heights campus is publicly accessible through the main gates at 116th Street and Broadway during open hours, so self-guided walking around College Walk and the Low Library plaza is generally possible, though building interiors require a Columbia ID. There is no dedicated visitor parking lot; the campus is in Manhattan, so take the subway (1 train to the 116th Street-Columbia University station) rather than driving.