The
Thomas J. Watson Research Center was jointly
established in
1945 as the
Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory by
Nicholas Murray Butler, president of
Columbia University, and Thomas J. Watson Sr., president of
IBM.
It was first located on New York City's West 116th Street in 1945 and the watson Lab later expanded to 115th Street, where it ended operations in 1970.
The new T. J. Watson Research Center better known as Yorktown Heights research center was designed by Eero Saarinen and construction began in 1957 and lastet until the 17th of April 1961. Take a look at it at http://www.watson.ibm.com/images/wat_outside.jpg
The other part of the Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the located at Hawthorne (http://www.watson.ibm.com/images/aerialH.jpg).