The Hall was completed in 1927 as a gift from Harkness and his family. It is a Collegiate Gothic building of Aquia sandstone with Ohio sandstone trim that houses the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and contains lecture and recitation rooms and offices for the Departments of French, German and Music.
Originally from Ohio, William Harkness (1858 - 1919) was an American businessman. On his father's death in 1896, he inherited a large share in Standard Oil. In 1881, he graduated from Yale University and 5 years later moved to New York. When he died in 1919, he left an estate of $53,439,437 ($707,636,614 today), of which $37,272,254 was stock in Standard Oil. Shortly before his death, he donated $400,000 to Yale.
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