The Quad the night before graduation containing chairs in rows and an aisle in the middle.

Outdoor Venues

Queens College offers the best of both worlds: a metropolitan location—offering all the culture, dining, and diversity of New York City—with a bucolic campus, its 80 tree-lined acres home to a number of spacious outdoor settings ideal for all types and sizes of events. Largest of these spaces is the campus quad—site of the college’s annual commencement exercises.

The Quad is a rectangular space with green grass and crisscross walkways. The sides of the quad contain trees.

Quad
130,760 sq. ft.

Queens College’s beautiful green quad, at 130,760 square feet, is crisscrossed with paved walkways and provides superlative views of the Manhattan skyline. Site of the college’s annual commencement exercises, the quad can accommodate as many as 10,000. Its rectangular, level layout makes the space amenable to any number of large outdoor events, whether fair, festival, or concert. Its location—nestled amidst several academic, administrative, cultural, and dining facilities—makes it a striking staging ground for large conferences and symposia.

Klapper Circle is a lawn with crisscross paved walkways that meet at the center.

​Klapper Circle
21,250 sq. ft.

Located outside of QC’s main dining facilities, Klapper Circle is a 21,250-square-foot lawn, crisscrossed with paved walkways that converge on a central plaza bordered with bench seating, a centerpiece sculpture, and decorative iron fencing. Klapper Circle is an attractive location for mid-sized events receptions and cocktail parties. Alternatively, it may be paired with any of the adjacent dining or reception spaces for a larger, two-stage event.

Rathaus Lawn-An open lawn space with green grass.
​Rathaus Lawn
23,850 sq. ft.

A gently sloping, 23,850-square-foot expanse, Rathaus Lawn is a verdant setting for all manner of leisurely events, such as birthday parties, reunions, or picnics.

Alumni Plaza-A lawn with paved spaces containing benches.
Alumni Plaza
92,625 sq. ft.

A 92,625-square-foot, tree-lined lawn running along Kissena Boulevard, Alumni Plaza features paved pathways, shrubbery, bench seating, and an adjacent parking lot. The plaza is an accessible setting for large outdoor gatherings and ceremonies.