SeeGeorgetown

Georgetown University Main Quad

It's hard to notice anything on this very large quadrangle other than the enormous Healy Hall (1897), a national historic landmark, whose high-set Flemish-Romanesque towers loom over the neighborhood, and even the city. It is named after Patrick Healy, who had an impressive career of firsts: the first African-American president of a major U.S. university, the first African-American with a PhD, and the first African-American Jesuit priest. During the day you can wander inside the building to appreciate the interior—Gaston Hall at the north end of the third floor should be your main objective, as it is both beautiful and has hosted endless visits by foreign and domestic heads of state. In the summer, these visits are often free to the public and not very well attended, so you might be able to get in and talk foreign policy with a king or two. Check the university's events website.

history

Getting there: just past the main gates at 37th St & O St NW

Directions Suggest a nearby place

Listing from Wikivoyage: Washington, D.C./Georgetown, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.

Close by

SeePublic art
Bishop John Carroll
Bishop John Carroll is a statue by the sculptor Jerome Connor commemorating Archbishop John Carroll, the founder of Georgetown University and the first Catholic bishop in the United States. Located in front of Healy Hall, on university's campus in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., the statue consists of a bronze sculpture of Carroll on top of a granite pedestal. The monument rises more than 14 feet (4.3 m) in height, and was unveiled in 1912 with an elaborate three-day ceremony.
SeeGeorgetown
Georgetown University Dalghren Chapel Quad
This quadrangle was the original land purchase upon the founding of the university. The chapel (1893) at the south end, beautiful inside and out, is best known to the world for its role in The Exorcist, where the priests discovered the defaced statue of the Virgin Mary. The oldest building on the quad is Old North (1795) on the north side, from which Abraham Lincoln gave his speech in 1861 to Union soldiers stationed here. The best time to visit is undoubtedly at the end of the cherry blossom season, when the petals are beginning to fall throughout the quad.
BuyFarmers market
Georgetown University Farmers' Market
3700 O St NW
SeeLibrary
Riggs Library
Healy Hall is a National Historic Landmark and the flagship building of the main campus of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Constructed between 1877 and 1879, the hall was designed by Paul J. Pelz and John L. Smithmeyer, both of whom also designed the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. The structure is named after Patrick Francis Healy, who was the President of Georgetown University at the time.
Wheelchair accessible