Accessibility

Maria Mitchell Observatory

Accessibility Information

The Maria Mitchell Observatory is fully accessible. The closest accessible parking spaces are located on Pratt Circle, in the Ely/Aula visitors’ parking lot and Baldwin parking lot.

All Gender Bathrooms

Located on the first floor, accessible.

View Maria Mitchell Observatory on the campus map.

Exterior view of a historic red-brick observatory building with arched windows, a central staircase leading to a domed roof, and surrounding green lawns under a bright blue sky with scattered clouds. — At the front of the building, which faces west, the “old observatory” features the telescope dome, and the original ironwork stairs leading to the second level. The main entrance is under the stairs (and dome) area. The paths leading up to the entrance each have an incline, with less of a grade from the Baldwin parking lot.

About the Judith Loeb Chiara ’49 Center at the Maria Mitchell Observatory

The first building to be completed on the Vassar campus, the observatory was built for astronomy professor Maria Mitchell, arguably the most famous American scientist of the 19th century, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991. In 1997, the new observatory at the edge of campus (and far away from interfering light sources) was completed, and the Mitchell Observatory was used for other purposes. After a meticulous renovation, the observatory is now home to the Education Department, with a spectacular seminar room in the dome room that once housed Mitchell’s telescope.

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