Princeton Announces New Names of Municipal Buildings

Winners have been chosen in the contest to rename Princeton's municipal buildings, the former Princeton Borough Hall at 1 Monument Drive and the former Princeton Township Building at 400 Witherspoon St. 

One Monument Drive will be renamed Monument Hall and 400 Witherspoon Street will be called Witherspoon Hall, a panel of judges decided. 

Thirty-eight contestants suggested 44 names for Borough Hall and 34 names for the Township Building. The contestants names were not revealed until the judging was completed. 

Resident Carol Calamoneri is the contestant suggested the name Witherspoon Hall was chosen. Five contestants suggested Monument Hall for the former Borough Hall: Carol Calamoneri, Stephanie Chorney, Diana Crane, Mimi Omiecinski and Roger Shatzkin.

The winning names will be presented to the Princeton Council at its meeting on Monday April 8. Winners will be recognized and receive prizes, including a certificate commemorating their role in the naming of the buildings.

As the sole winner of the naming of Witherspoon Hall, Calamoneri will receive a $250 gift certificate to McCaffrey’s, season tickets to Princeton University football or basketball for next season, a free family membership to the Princeton Community Pool and free borrowing privileges for DVDs at Princeton Public Library for one year.

The five winners of the naming of Monument Hall will each receive $50 gift certificate to McCaffery’s. In addition, Shatzkin, whose name was selected in a random drawing for the five winners, will receive season tickets to Princeton University football or basketball for next season, a free family membership in Community Pool, and free borrowing privileges for DVDs at the Princeton Public Library for one year.

Judges believed the new building names should not be confusing, should not reinforce old Borough and Township distinctions, be intuitive, not require further explanation, be unique and not replicated elsewhere in town, be comprehensive to newcomers, have built-in longevity and allow for parallels between the two buildings. 

The four judges were: 

• Landon (Lanny) Jones, former managing editor of People magazine and the author of “William Clark and the Shaping of the West,” and “Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation."
• Jeff Lucker, a social studies teacher at Princeton High School who teaches AP World History and cultures, Latin American History and history of the Middle East.
• Nancy Becker, founder of the public affairs consulting firm Nancy H. Becker Associates. She currently works at the Eagleton Institute of Politics on the Rutgers Program on the Governor. 
• Leslie Burger, executive director of the Princeton Public Library and a past president of the American Library Association.