Campus Overview

Over the past century, Lesley University’s campus has grown from Edith Lesley Wolfard’s historic home at 29 Everett Street to multiple campuses on over eighteen acres. With its landmark partnership with the Episcopal Divinity School, Lesley has dramatically expanded its footprint and its opportunity to develop a three-node campus in the heart of Cambridge, a vibrant center of culture and learning and one of the world’s most renowned university towns. Located only minutes apart by foot, Lesley’s three campuses--each with its distinctive architecture--are set in three neighborhoods--each with its distinctive character. At the same time, they share certain important urban qualities: they are pedestrian-oriented, bicycle-friendly, open and welcoming. Massachusetts Avenue, with its array of shops, restaurants, and services connects the campus nodes while providing a vibrant urban environment and many student-oriented services, retail and entertainment venues. Lesley is integrated within its neighborhoods: the Cambridge context is an essential part of the student experience and neighborhood residents are invited to enjoy Lesley’s multiple campus settings and events.

QUAD CAMPUS

Lesley’s Quad Campus is the historic heart of the University. Since its founding, the campus has grown from a single home to include most of the land bounded by Everett, Oxford and Wendell streets and Massachusetts Avenue. Largely residential in scale, the campus derives much of its character from its many Victorian houses as well as the brick complex of linked buildings that define the Quad itself. Interwoven within its Agassiz neighborhood, the Quad Campus is home to Lesley College, the university’s undergraduate liberal arts college, and a wide range of university functions including classrooms, the library, the Office of the President, the student center, student affairs, dining commons, and most of the university’s residence halls.

PORTER CAMPUS

The Porter Campus is set in bustling Porter Square, an urban hub at the intersection of two major streets, subway, commuter rail and bus lines. The square is dominated by University Hall, an art deco jewel originally constructed for Sears Roebuck and now home to Lesley’s School of Education, faculty offices, science labs, studios, a 175-seat amphitheater and most of the university’s classrooms, in addition to an eclectic range of retail on the building’s ground floor and lower level. Other buildings on the campus include a converted warehouse that now houses university administrative offices and Prospect Hall, a 19th century New England meetinghouse and the centerpiece of the university’s proposed Art Institute.

BRATTLE CAMPUS

A landmark of 19th century Victorian Gothic design, the Brattle Campus reflects the partnership between Lesley and the Episcopal Divinity School. Located within the Old Cambridge Historic District, the stately architecture and bucolic landscape of the Brattle Campus also form part of a National Register Historic District, and many buildings are individual nominations to the Register. The campus features residence halls, classrooms, office space, a dining hall and library. Lesley intends to house additional undergraduates and relocate the departments and programs of the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences as well as the library’s main print collections on the campus.