Centenial Celebration

Law School Buildings

Prudential Building
October - December, 1908
On October 5, 1908, 30 students filed into a spare room on the fourth floor of the Prudential Insurance Building for their first New Jersey Law School class.

1st 33 East Park Street building
1908 - 1921
In December, the law school moved to a Victorian town house at 33 East Park Street that had been built in 1875 by the then mayor of Newark, Thomas Peddie.

           
2nd 33 East Park Street
1921 - 1931
With enrollment surging after World War I, the town house was razed and a larger, Gothic structure with a terra cotta front and windows of heavy leaded English glass was built in its place.		 40 Rector Street
1930 - 1947
The Ballantine Brewery factory at 40 Rector Street had enough space for 10 classrooms, two large lecture halls, and a library of 20,000 volumes.

Ballantine Mansion
1947 - 1956
Shortly after its incorporation into Rutgers University in 1946, the law school moved to a Victorian mansion, formerly owned by the Ballantine Brewery Company, at 37 Washington Street.

53 Washington Street
1956 - 1965
Once again outgrowing its home, the law school moved in 1956 to the former Newark Young Women's Christian Association building at 53 Washington Street.

  
Ackerson 1965 - 1979
In 1965 the law school occupied a new, modern structure built especially for it at 180 University Avenue. It was named Ackerson Hall in honor of NJ Supreme Court Justice Henry E. Ackerson, who spearheaded the fundraising efforts for the building.

Newhouse Center

1979 - 1999
Built in 1930 as the Fireman's Fund Building, the 17-story structure was dedicated in October 1979 as the S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice. The newspaper and magazine publisher Samuel I. Newhouse was a 1916 graduate of New Jersey Law School.

 
Outside view of CLJ

2000 - present
The Center for Law and Justice at 123 Washington Street was dedicated by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a former member of the faculty and a founder of the Rutgers Women's Rights Law Reporter. The design of the light-filled building creates a strong sense of community.

This garden terrace, a favorite gathering spot for students, is supported by the Class of '77 in memory of classmate A.J. Smaldone, one of the country's pioneer advocates for the disabled who died in 1980 from long-term complications of polio.

Smalldone Garden