The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

College Hall

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Institution Name: Smith College
Original/Historic Place Name: College Hall
Location on Campus: 10 Elm St.
Date(s) of Construction:

1875	original construction Peabody & Stearns
1978	exterior renovation

Designer: Peabody & Stearns
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Gothic revival, Victorian, Other (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, culture, education, history
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: brick, stone

Walls: brick

Roof: slate

Function:

ca. 1875	classrooms
ca. 1875-present (2006)	administration

Narrative:
College Hall (1875) was the first building designed for Smith College. At the time of its construction it acted as both the administrative and classroom building. Today, College Hall houses major offices of the College, including the Office of the President, Dean of the Faculty/Provost, Office of the Treasurer, Dean of Student Affairs, Office of the Registrar, and the Board of Trustees.

As the early focal point of the college, College Hall was the college to many of its earliest students. The building has undergone numerous interior renovations, including a 1978 renovation of the exterior. Today, it remains an integral part of the campus and of student experience.

References:

The Historical Handbook of Smith College. Northampton, MA: Smith College, 1932.

Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. Alma Mater: Design and Experience in the Women's Colleges from their Nineteenth-Century Beginnings to the 1930s. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984.

Lincoln, Eleanor Terry, and John Abel Pinto. This, the House We Live In: Smith College Campus from 1872-1982. Northampton, MA: Trustees of Smith College, 1983.

Schuyler, Montgomery. "The Architecture of American Colleges: X. Three Women's Colleges: Vassar, Wellesley & Smith." Architectural Record 31 (May 1912): 513-37.