The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Alumni Hall

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Alumni Hall (ca. 1950s), Stonehill College

Institution Name: Stonehill College
Original/Historic Place Name: Ames Gym
Location on Campus: upper campus
Date(s) of Construction:

1905	original construction Parker, Thomas & Rice
1991	renovation

Designer: Parker, Thomas & Rice
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Beaux-Arts classicism, Colonial revival, Contemporary (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, culture, history
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: stone

Walls: brick

Roof: slate

Function:

ca. 1905	gymnasium (marble swimming pool, clay tennis court; later basketball court, quarters for tennis and swimming coaches)
ca. 1991-present (2006)	auditorium (part of Alumni Hall)
ca. 1991-present (2006)	alumni center (Alumni Hall includes Office of Alumni Affairs, conference room)

Narrative:
In addition to designing the Ames estate house, architects Parker, Thomas & Rice also planned the entire estate and designed one of the other main buildings known as the Ames Gym. Built for the family as a modern recreation center, this building has always possessed character - boasting a heated indoor swimming pool and a clay tennis court under a glass roof. Today the original wood floor (put in by the college when the tennis court was replaced with the school's gym) remains. This area now serves as an auditorium. The pool was covered in 1952, in order to create bathroom facilities for the women students, first admitted to Stonehill in 1951. Today, it serves as a conference room. The upstairs included quarters for the tennis and swimming coach and today houses offices for the Department of Alumni Affairs. Yet even with the changes from family recreation center, then to college gym, intramural gym and finally its current renovation as Alumni Hall in 1991, the building retains many of the original characteristics and is a significant building on campus.

For more information about the architects, see Place 1-Donahue Hall in this survey.

References: