The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Fraternity Row

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Fraternity Row (view from the west, ca. 1950), Williams College

Institution Name: Williams College
Original/Historic Place Name: Fraternity Row
Location on Campus: Main St.
Date(s) of Construction:

1869	original construction; Perry House (Alpha Delta Phi) Sturgis, Russell
1896	original construction; Perry House (incorporating Sturgis building)
1905	addition; Perry House Allen, Jerome K.
1907	original construction; Wood House Smith, William Neil
1907	original construction; Weston Language Center (Phi Delta Theta) Squires & Wynkoop
1908	original construction; Spencer House (Chi Psi) Purdon, James
1913	addition; Perry House
ca. 1920	addition of dining room to south side; Weston Language Center (Phi Delta Theta)
1961	original construction; Brooks House (Delta Kappa Epsilon)

Designer: various
Type of Place: Building group
Style: Modern/post-WWII, Other (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, history
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Function:

ca. 1905	Greek letter society
ca. 2004-present (2006)	faculty offices
ca. 2004-present (2006)	classrooms
ca. 2004-present (2006)	residence hall

Narrative:
Fraternity row at Williams College comprises: Philip Spencer House (formerly Chi Psi fraternity designed by James Purdon, 1908/9), Belvidere Brooks House (formerly Delta Kappa Epsilon designed by Daniel O'Connell & Sons, 1961), Karl E. Weston House (formerly Phi Delta Theta designed by Squires & Wynkoop, 1907), Perry House (formerly Alpha Delta Phi designed by Jerome K. Allen, 1905), and Hamilton B. Wood House (formerly Zeta Psi designed by William Neil Smith, 1907). These houses, with the exception of Brooks House--a later construction necessitated by a fire that ravaged the original house--are emblematic of the fraternity life that so organized the social atmosphere of the college during the first half of the 20th century.

Although there have been renovations to each of the older buildings, the exteriors remain much as they were during the 1910s. Weston, in particular, was reportedly constructed from a prize-winning design and includes Rookwood Pottery tiles around several of the windows.

References:

Schuyler, Montgomery. "The Architecture of American Colleges VI. Dartmouth, Williams and Amherst." Architectural Record 28 (December 1910): 424-42.