International House of New York

Student residential community

International House New York, also known as I House, is a private, independent, non profit residence and program center for postgraduate students, research scholars, trainees, and interns, located at 500 Riverside Drive in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The I House residential community typically consists of 700+ students and scholars from over 100 countries annually, with about one third of those coming from the United States. The residential experience includes programming designed to promote mutual respect, friendship, and leadership skills across cultures and fields of study. International House has attracted prominent guest speakers through the years, from Eleanor Roosevelt and Isaac Stern to Sandra Day O'Connor, Valerie Jarrett, George Takei, and Nelson Mandela. Students attend various universities and schools throughout the city, which include Columbia University, Juilliard School, Actors Studio Drama School, New York University, the Manhattan School of Music, the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, Teachers College, Columbia University, and the City University of New York. The original entrance to International House is inscribed with the motto written by John D. Rockefeller Jr.: "That Brotherhood May Prevail"; the piazza (The Abby O'Neill Patio) of its entrance opens onto Sakura Park, the site of Japan's original gift of cherry trees to New York City in 1912. The 500 Riverside Drive building, designed in the Italianite style by architects Louis E. Jallade and Marc Eidlitz and Sons, was built in 1924 and was listed on the U. S. National Register of Historic Places as International House in 1999. The chairman of the board of trustees is longtime diplomat and businessman Ambassador Frank G. Wisner. The chairman of the board's executive committee is Peter O'Neill. The latter role has also been held by William D. Rueckert, a member of the Dodge family, whose generous gifts contributed to the development of both International House and the Columbia University Teachers College. In May 2021, Sebastian Fries became president and CEO of International House, succeeding Brian Polovoy, a former partner with the law firm Shearman & Sterling and a board member of 11 years, who was appointed interim president from October 2020 to April 2021. The previous president was Calvin Sims, a former program officer at The Ford Foundation and foreign correspondent for The New York Times.

In March 2020, as the COVID 19 pandemic unfolded, The New York Times reported that I House ordered its South Building residents to vacate within one week after a staff member tested positive for the virus and one resident died from complications of the virus, leaving 300 500 students and young professionals, many of whom had recently arrived in the United States, without housing. I House reportedly told its residents that New York state's newly implemented COVID 19 eviction moratorium did not apply to its residents, because they had signed a contract stating I House was not a "traditional landlord." Though I House stated that it was working to help identify alternative housing options for its residents, as well as waiving fees and refunding security deposits, I House was criticized from both a moral and public health standpoint.

Frank G. Wisner

George W. Wickersham
Henry L. Stimson
George C. Marshall
John J. McCloy
Charles W. Yost
George W. Ball
Henry A. Kissinger
Gerald R. Ford
John C. Whitehead
Paul A. Volcker
William D. Rueckert

Dwight D. Eisenhower