Branford College

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Branford College


Motto	? If you will it, it is no dream.
Named For	Branford, Connecticut
Established	1933
Colors	Blue, green, yellow
College Master	Steven Smith
College Dean	Daniel Tauss
Undergraduates	?
Called	Branfordians
Location	74 High Street
Homepage	http://www.yale.edu/branford

Branford College is one of the 12 residential colleges at Yale University. It was founded in 1933 by partitioning the Memorial Quadrangle (built in 1917-21) into two parts: Saybrook and Branford. According to Robert Frost, it is "the oldest and most beautiful"^{[citation needed]} of the Yale residential colleges, though it shares a building and was founded simultaneously with Saybrook.

Branford College was named for the nearby city of Branford, Connecticut, where Yale was briefly located. The base of Harkness Tower, one of the university's most prominent structures and one of the tallest free-standing stone structures in the world, forms one corner of Branford's main courtyard. The tower contains a 54-bell carillon. Frank Lloyd Wright is said to have been asked where he would choose to be if he could be anywhere in the U.S. and responded that he would pick Harkness Tower so he would not have to look at it.^{[citation needed]}

The student rooms and common areas are decorated with stained glass by G. Owen Bonawit. Branford's architect, James Gamble Rogers, required that at least one pane on every window be broken and then soldered back together, resulting in a Y-shape in many of the windows.

The college was renovated in 2000.

On the television show Gilmore Girls, Rory Gilmore (played by Alexis Bledel) is a member of Branford College. Richard Gilmore (played by Edward Herrmann) is a fictional Branford College alumnus.