Georgian Court University

The main campus was built in 1899 on the former summer estate of the millionaire George Jay Gould, son of the railroad tycoon Jay Gould.[8] The Goulds named their home Georgian Court, probably after George or the Georgian-revival architecture.[9]

The estate was designed by Bruce Price, a New York architect, and was one of his most important residential works. He also designed three of the campus's gardens: the Italian Gardens, the Sunken Garden, and the Formal Garden. Takeo Shiota designed the Japanese Garden. In addition to the gardens, GCU has maintained much of the original architecture and the Sister Mary Grace Burns Arboretum. The estate was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture and its association with the Goulds.[10]

In March 2022, GCU announced that it had reached an agreement to sell 42 acres of mostly unused land at the edge of its campus and several administrative buildings along Lakewood Avenue to Beth Medrash Govoha for an undisclosed sum.[11] The proceeds of the sale will be used to construct a new center for nursing and health sciences, to reimagine its Casino building (currently used as a multi-purpose office and event space) as a modern student center, to update its Mansion building (currently used for receptions[12]) to be used as an administration hub, and to modernize its student housing/dorm facilities.[13]

The Sisters of Mercy founded Mount Saint Mary College as a liberal arts school for women in 1908, in North Plainfield, New Jersey. In 1924, the sisters purchased Georgian Court estate and moved the college there, renaming it Georgian Court College.[14]

For more than a century, from 1908 to 2015, the institution was headed by Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters of Mercy organization continues to sponsor Georgian Court through the Conference for Mercy Higher Education.

The full transition to a coeducational institution, admitting both women and men into all academic programs, became complete at the outset of the Fall 2013 semester.

Georgian Court is the only Catholic college or university located in Central or South New Jersey. Most of its enrollment is drawn from these areas.

In 2004, university status was granted by the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education; the name was changed to Georgian Court University.

One of the many historic aspects of the campus is that it houses the only "real tennis" court, also called a "court tennis" court, at an American school. This indoor tennis court was built in the Casino building (which was a "casino" in the 19th-century sense of the term: a place for social gatherings[8]).[6] Approximately forty-five real tennis courts are still in use in the world today.