The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Eleanor Donnelly Erdman Hall

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Eleanor Donnelly Erdman Hall (general view, from the south), Bryn Mawr College

Institution Name: Bryn Mawr College
Original/Historic Place Name: Eleanor Donnelly Erdman Hall
Location on Campus: 150 Morris Ave.
Date(s) of Construction:

1960-1965

original construction Kahn, Louis I.

Designer: Louis I. Kahn
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Modern/post-WWII (Glossary)
Significance:
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: reinforced concrete

Walls: hung slate panels, reinforced concrete

Roof: BUR

Function:

1965-present	dining hall
1965-present	residence hall

Narrative:
Erdman Hall is in overall excellent condition, and has undergone careful restoration of it original exterior attachment system after failure of the anchoring system of the hung slate panels.

Erdman Hall is an important institutional work of the internationally significant architect Louis I. Kahn. Although less than fifty years old (and thus not meeting the National Register standard), the significance of Kahn's work is sufficiently established that a project such as Erdman warrants recognition as historically significant, if not as a world monument.

References:

Andropogon Associates, and Emily Cooperman. Bryn Mawr College Campus Heritage Initiative, Funded by the J. Paul Getty Initiative. Report. Philadelphia, PA: Andropogon Associates, Ltd., 2004.

Brownlee, David, and David G. DeLong. Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.