2 NC colleges ranked among the ‘most beautiful’ in the US. Is your alma mater on the list?
Two of North Carolina’s most prestigious universities have been named one of the most beautiful across the country.
From the east coast to the west, Condé Nast Traveler released a list of 54 schools that could be considered some of “America’s most magnificent architectural masterpieces” — including Duke University in Durham and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.
Duke University in Durham
“Duke University is dominated by Collegiate Gothic buildings, most notably the towering, 210-foot-high Duke Chapel, with a 50-bell carillon, three pipe organs and seating for no fewer than 1,800 people,” the report says. “But it’s the Duke Forest and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens that are the real highlights here — the latter was designed by celebrated American landscape designer Ellen Biddle Shipman, and is filled with a world-class array of irises, palms and roses.”
The private school, which is home to more than 17,000 students, was created in 1924. Though its institutional history goes back far beyond that.
According to the university’s website, it was by James Buchanan Duke as a memorial to his father, Washington Duke — with the takeover of what was formerly known as Trinity College. The school moved to Durham in 1892, but after the family launched their philanthropic foundation (The Duke Endowment), Trinity College had a physical and academic expansion into Duke University.
“When Duke was founded in 1924, the construction of its campus was the single largest Depression-era project in the United States,” the school’s admission page says. “Today, the Georgian East Campus and neo-Gothic West Campus serve as the core of Duke’s sprawling campus. With more than 250 buildings situated on 8,600+ acres of land, 7,044 of which are forest, you will immediately feel immersed in a ‘Gothic Wonderland.’”
This isn’t the first time Duke has been praised for its gorgeous campus grounds. In 2024, the Triangle university made Architectural Digest list for most beautiful campuses across the country, The News & Observer previously reported.
Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem
We can’t forget Wake Forest University — which also made Architectural Digest’s list along with the recent Condé Nast Traveler report.
“Wake Forest’s Reynolda Campus blends the built and natural worlds with steeples and domed roofs peeking out above the ground’s lush greenery and treelines,” the CN report says. “The quad earns major bragging rights, flanked by the gorgeous Wait Chapel and titular Reynolda Hall buildings, but the botanical aspects of the campus are the true stars here — don’t leave without taking a walk through Reynolda Gardens, made up of 125 acres of wetlands, fields, forests, and trails.”
In 1843, it was founded in Wake Forest as Wake Forest Manual Labor Institute and later rechartered as Wake Forest College in 1838, according to the university website. Then, over a century later, it moved 100 miles to Winston-Salem.
“Today, while Wake Forest’s Reynolda Campus has maintained the look of its original 14 Georgian-style buildings, the school has grown significantly in physical landscape, academic offerings and stature,” the university’s website says.
You can check out the full list of schools featured alongside the two Tar Heel universities online at cntraveler.com.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 11:12 AM with the headline "2 NC colleges ranked among the ‘most beautiful’ in the US. Is your alma mater on the list?."
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