Just ran across a thread for Sewanee where the OP stated “Can’t wait to go to Hogwarts”. It made me laugh. So far my D16 has visited 3 potential schools that referenced themselves as Hogwarts while we were touring. How about you, how many schools have you toured that lay claim to being “just like” Hogwarts? Does one building that fits the description make it Hogwarts?
College of Wooster (Definitely not)
University of Pittsburgh (OK so the Cathedral of Learning is very Hogwarts-ish)
Arcadia University (Not really)
I hear (but have not visited)
Rhodes College (Which may actually be the most Hogwarts-ish from the pictures I’ve seen)
I’m no student of architecture, but the whole “my school looks like hogwarts” wears pretty thin with me. Other than the handful buildings that have interiors which evoke the great hall, there are a bunch of college campuses that have the “look”. Here’s a short list of pictures -
Mount Holyoke (especially the library) was very “Potter-esque” to me! (However, the college never referred to itself as being like Hogwarts during our visit.)
Upitts space is the most Hogwarts like to because it really does look like the Great Hall and also allows students to really use that space to relax, talk , eat, hang out. The outside of buildings or even libraries being Hogwarts like doesn’t in my opinion give the same feeling.
Greetings from Oxford - the real Hogwarts. I just found out that Christchurch - where I thought they actually filmed the dining hall scenes - was in fact only the model. It was too disruptive to film there while school was in session (real students do have to eat), so they built a set outside London that replicated it. Bodleian Library was a place where filming actually took place. Pretty magical if you get the chance to visit.
I’ve visited Sewanee, Kenyon, Rhodes, and UPitt, and among those Sewanee most resembles Hogwarts. It has the collegiate Gothic architecture (consistently, not just a few buildings), sits on 13000 acres with surrounding forests, and gets fog on the mountaintop. It was modeled after Oxford. A lot of schools seem to have one or two buildings that are “Hogwarts like.”
I agree - it is most like it to me. And with the professors and the honored students wearing robes - get out! I expect to see Harry Potter around the corner at any moment. Joking aside it is a very fine school.
