Ely Hall

Ely Hall
Ely's facade in 2015
Former names	Alumnae Gymnasium
General information
Type	Classroom, laboratory, meeting space
Architectural style	Richardsonian Romanesque
Town or city	Poughkeepsie, New York
Country	US
Coordinates	41°41′17″N 73°53′42″W / 41.6880603°N 73.8950368°W / 41.6880603; -73.8950368Coordinates: 41°41′17″N 73°53′42″W / 41.6880603°N 73.8950368°W / 41.6880603; -73.8950368
Named for	Achsah M. Ely
Groundbreaking	March 29, 1889
Opened	November 23, 1889
Renovated	1906, 1994
Cost	$22,000
Renovation cost	$25,000 (1906)
Owner	Vassar College
Technical details
Material	Brick
Floor count	Two
Design and construction
Architect	William Tubby
Main contractor	"Mr. Otis"
Renovating team
Architect	William Downing (1906)
Renovating firm	Olson Lewis Architects & Planners, Inc. (1994)

Ely Hall is a two-story Richardsonian Romanesque classroom and laboratory building on the campus of Vassar College in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, US. The structure houses Vassar's Department of Earth Science and Geography, the A. Scott Warthin, Jr. Museum of Geology and Natural History, and the Aula, a spacious and frequently used gathering space.

Originally known as the Alumnae Gymnasium, the building was erected as a response to the perception that Vassar's physical education program was falling behind those of other Seven Sisters colleges. Plans for the hall were made, scrapped, and remade as the college and alumnae benefactors struggled to raise sufficient funds. Ultimately, the building was designed by William Tubby and constructed in 1889, signaling a physical decentralization away from the college's Main Building. When it opened, the gymnasium featured a large pool and a variety of other athletic spaces. Vassar's enrollment quickly outgrew the limited space within the building, and it was first expanded and then superseded by Kenyon Hall in the 1930s. The Geology Department moved into the building shortly thereafter.

The physical education program at Vassar College in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, was the first such program in the United States. Its facilities were first housed within the school's Calisthenium and Riding Academy which opened in 1866, a year after Vassar's opening in 1865. Alumna Forence Cushing, along with a cohort of other Boston-based alumnae, observed in 1883 that Vassar's physical education program was lagging behind those at other recently opened Seven Sisters schools including Wellesley College and Smith College. The New York and Boston alumnae clubs began an attempt to raise $20,000, which they believed to be an adequate sum to pay for a new home for athletics at the school.