The campus is connected!
Since Patty and Jay Baker’s $15 million donation enabled Hunter College to transform a landmark Upper East Side townhouse into the Baker Theatre Building, there has been one thing missing: a way to get there without going outside.
Now, that link exists: a bridge from the Baker Building to the East Building at 68th and Lexington.
“The Bakers are bridge builders in so many ways,” President Jennifer J. Raab said. “They connect students to opportunity and achievement.”
The Bakers — Patty ’82, a Hunter College Foundation trustee and the chair of the Theatre Advisory Board; and Jay, a retail wizard — made it all possible nearly 10 years ago when their donation provided the funds needed to buy the building, once used as a school, from the Archdiocese of New York.
The bridge leads from the East Building into the new Gruber Lounge, an inviting space for students to relax that features 19th century columns and Guastavino tile vaults with colorful, modernist tufted furniture funded by Harriet Gruber ’51.
Gruber — one of the Theatre Advisory Board’s earliest members — generously supported the renovation of the lounge area.
“These incredible people helped make our Theatre Department one of the most extraordinary programs in the country,” President Raab said. “They have made our vision of being the public school of the arts a reality.”
