Designed in 1941 by Favrot and Reed architects, this observatory was used for astronomy classes and special celestial events that were open to the public. The telescope originally belonged to William Henry Pickering of the Harvard Observatory and was then gifted to Tulane by his granddaughter, Helen Pickering Zemurray. Pickering was instrumental in the search for the planet Pluto.
The new Tulane Observatory is now located on the top floor of Jones Hall, replacing the Cunningham Observatory, which was used by hundreds of students from 1940 until it was demolished in 2001 to make way for the expansion of the A. B. Freeman School of Business.
The current observatory houses a modern, computer-controlled, 16-inch reflecting telescope, providing an opportunity to view the moon and planets and on occasion deep sky objects, such as galaxies, nebulae and star clusters.