Cloister Inn is one of the undergraduate eating clubs at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Founded in 1912, Cloister occupies a neo-Gothic building on Prospect Avenue, between Cap and Gown Club

Cap and Gown Club

Cap and Gown Club, founded in 1890, is an eating club at Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Colloquially known as "Cap", the club is one of the "Big Four" eating clubs at Princeton . Members are selected through a selective process called bicker...

 and Charter Club

Princeton Charter Club

The Princeton Charter Club is one of Princeton University's ten active undergraduate eating clubs located on or near Prospect Avenue in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.-Club history:...

. Cloister closed temporarily in 1972, becoming open to all Princeton alumni, before reopening as an undergraduate club in 1977. The club is "sign-in," meaning that it selects its members from a lottery process rather than the bicker

Bicker

Bicker may refer to*Bicker, Lincolnshire*Bicker, a practice in the eating clubs at Princeton University and Mount Olive College*Bicker , a Dutch Golden Age family, headed by Andries Bicker...

 process used by several of the eating clubs.

Notable alumni include Ian Caldwell

Ian Caldwell

Ian Caldwell is an American novelist. After graduating from Princeton University in 1998, he and his childhood friend Dustin Thomason co-wrote the semi-autobiographical The Rule of Four, which was published in 2004....

, author of the bestselling novel The Rule of Four, which was set at Princeton and includes several scenes that take place at Cloister; as well as Chris Ahrens, gold medalist in the Men's Eights event while Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place at the Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre and featured 550 competitors taking part in 14 events....

. Both were members of the class of 1998.

History

Cloister Inn, Princeton's 16th eating club, was founded in 1912. It initially occupied Cottage Club's second building, which had been recently vacated by Tower Club. Cloister remained in this structure through the first World War, selling it to the now-defunct Court Club in 1920. The funds from this sale were used to purchase the current Cloister lot, between Cap and Gown and Charter.

Cloister had begun contemplating a new home as early as 1920 and rejected two designs. The first, by Robert Henry Scannell '15, suggested a "cloister" in its plan for the entrance, a triple arch, but was otherwise undistinguished. The second was far more ambitious. Designed by Albert Relsen of Philadelphia, it featured a medieval cloister to the rear of the building. In this regard, it resembled a smaller scale version of Holder Hall on the campus. But for financial reasons, it was not built. Scannell submitted a second design in 1923 that was adopted and the building was completed by the spring of 1924. Executed in the local stone (Lockatong argillite, or "Princeton stone") used in many of the University's dormitories, Scannell's design reflected the University's preference for a generic "Collegiate Gothic" style that incorporated and amalgamated medieval English precedents. The dominant element in Scannell's design for Cloister is the row of pointed arches that face Prospect Avenue. (These arches are continued past the enclosed portion of the building to frame a covered patio.) The carved, arched doorway also contributes to the medieval flavor of the facade. Enormous stone chimneys complete the effect.

Cloister's public elevation squarely places it in the tradition of the later clubs, which took their inspiration from the University itself rather than the earlier clubs. In this, Cloister is most closely related to Dial Lodge (1917) and Key & Seal (1925), both of which are now out of operation. In 1972, Cloister closed temporarily and became an alternate dining facility for underclass students as well as an alumni center. This was short-lived, however, because in 1977 a student initiative reopened the building as an eating club, and it has been in operation ever since.

More recently, Cloister received mentioning in Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason's 2004 bestselling novel The Rule of Four. Caldwell, a 1998 graduate of Princeton, was a member of Cloister.