Shea Rowing Center
The C. Bernard Shea Rowing Center is the boathouse for the Princeton University rowing programs. Located on Lake Carnegie in Princeton, New Jersey, the center consists of the Class of 1887 Boathouse and the Richard Ottesen Prentke ‘67 Training Center. The Shea Center was dedicated on October 7, 2000.
Rowing began at Princeton in 1870 with a half-dozen undergraduates and two boats, which the students taught themselves to row on the Delaware and Raritan Canal. By 1874, the Princeton Boating Club had been formed and had obtained a wood-framed boathouse on the canal. But by 1884, the canal had become so busy with steam-powered boat traffic that rowing was forced to cease. Early in the 20th century, former coxswain Howard Russell Butler convinced Andrew Carnegie to create a lake at Princeton. When some lakeside property owners demanded to sell their entire farms, Carnegie balked at providing full financing, Butler and a group of eleven other alumni generously stepped in and purchased over a hundred acres of land, 89 of which were then given to the University. Other alumni gave hundreds of acres of land to the University at the same time. The lake was finally completed in 1906.
With a fine body of water on which to compete, rowing began again in 1911. In 1913, the Class of 1887 Boathouse was donated to the University on the occasion of the 25th reunion of the Class; they had been the last class to row on the Canal. The 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m2) structure initially accommodated only 3 full eights of heavyweight oarsmen.
As Princeton added new rowing programs, the building housed heavyweight, lightweight, women’s and lightweight women’s crew programs. There were a number of piecemeal modifications over the years to accommodate the additional athletes, leaving a building that was maze-like and confusing. By 1997, the boathouse was serving more than 160 athletes on a daily basis, and was packed beyond overflowing. Additionally, the building was falling into disrepair. Indeed, a 1996 meeting of the Princeton University Rowing Association (PURA) was punctuated by a window falling out. Subsequent to this meeting, PURA president Dick Prentke ‘67 initiated the effort to work with University to pursue a full-scale renovation and addition.
PURA turned to architect and former lightweight rower Jeff Peterson ’84 to explore initial concepts for the project. Peterson's firm at that time, Architectural Resources Cambridge, was eventually hired to design the project. After the project, Peterson started Peterson Architects, a firm that focuses primarily on boathouses.
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