Honorific Names

Many buildings at Princeton are named for donors or their friends, families or alumni classes, but some have honorific names that were requested by the donors: two examples are Lewis Thomas Laboratory, named at the request of Laurance Rockefeller ’32 for Lewis Thomas ’33, a prominent doctor and essayist, and Bowen Hall, named at the request of Gordon Wu ’58 for former Princeton President William G. Bowen *58. Other buildings have honorific names that were assigned by the Trustees, such as John Maclean House, which was named for the Princeton president who founded the Alumni Association when that office moved into the building in 1968. The building previously had served as the home of the Dean of the Faculty, during which time it was known as the Dean’s House.