THE D0R/UTOi\Y SYSTE/tt THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY Presented in 1916 by President Edmund J. James in memory of Amanda K. Gasad G P 3 86 Vi/ The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/dormitorysystemaOOuniv THE DORMITORY SYSTEM V „ * ® Trip ;,» ,/ :, IL,[ ' ? r ^ 1 ,lll|, iliiii|liiuii mmm "Hlll! | tll|j;;;'i||||| | |||||i t»i vii 1 (JijUSMjcW ‘if httst PjLjILiLJL JB- ||| iillllllllUUI n»""‘‘ fopc and J)rc (^jsrj^jon Jlrch • fecK) j £ © rta/no* J>r ^m ’oda THE new dormitories — bird's eve view looking southeast. University of Pennsylvania THE DORMITORY SYSTEM AS DESIGNED BY COPE & STEWARDSON, Architects The Committee gratefully acknowledges the liberality of Messrs. Edward Stern & Co., Inc., who, as their contribution to the Dormitory System, publish the entire edition of this sketch without cost to the University. -//vs-' ■ | i i‘ !l '•WL. -ip. n\ v" if! UluV'JlU.1 dimtUi z***-#?/** •nufir 1 ‘ ~-T~~ t'Jr-— ^ l^Bi ' { A / W J! VIEW LOOKING INTO THE TRIANGLE FROM T Cope avo 5 few* 0D3 o*j 'Tre/:* 4?0 ’jT A//LA&A- /V HE SOUTHWEST. ? UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA The UormitoRy System O NE hundred and thirty years ago the College of Philadelphia gave promise of realizing the loftiest ambition of its founders. When the Penns granted its charter, the, hope was expressed, in that instrument, that the education provided would not only be of benefit to the province, but “suited to the infant state of North America.” Differing from the older institutions in that they were primarily founded for the training of ministers of the gospel and only gradually became seats of universal learning, the College of Philadelphia began with the broad and secular ideas of Franklin, modified and developed by the practical wisdom of its admirable first Provost, Dr. William Smith. In a very few years its fame had spread throughout the colonies, and students were attracted from beyond the borders of Pennsylvania — not in large numbers it is true, but in sufficient proportion to the number then seeking college train- 3 567-205 ing to make it far more than a mere provincial institution. If this condition had continued, the question of providing for the residence of students from abroad would soon have forced itself upon the founders, and would no doubt have been met with the wisdom and liberality which marked their management of the institution. But the War of Independence and its sequences, political dissensions and the impoverishment of the country, wrecked these fair hopes; and, for many long years, that which had become the University of Pennsylvania existed only for the ministry of the higher education to the community immediately around it. Exception must of course be made in regard to its Medical School. Time was when the only resource in America for a medical education was the University of Pennsylvania ; it was always the best place for such an education ; and to it were drawn from all the States in the Union students so greatly outnumbering those in the College, that outside of the city the name of the University meant only its Medical Department. These students from a distance found such boarding places as they could in the neighborhood of the old site on Ninth Street. Many establish- ments were devoted exclusively to their use, and there was a certain — not always salutary — charm in the Bohemian side of the Medical student’s life, while attending lectures in Philadelphia. For the rest, the students of the University came decorously every morning from their parents’ homes on Walnut Street or from far-off Germantown, and were safely home by candle-light. And if, now and then, a man came from the interior of the State or from some southern State, it 4 was only because he had friends in Philadelphia, with whom he could find a safe and real home. Then came a new epoch. The two sombre buildings which had for so many years sheltered the University gave way to the Phila- delphia Post Office, and beyond the Schuylkill a noble domain was secured, which now affords room for spacious modern buildings equipped with all the appliances needed for the ever-widening scope of the education of to-day. And these are the outward symbols of an intense activity and earnestness, of professional devotion and consecrated munificence that invite ambitious youth to all the avenues of modern learning. The invitation is not in vain. Upon our rolls are now recorded with increasing frequency the names of other States than Pennsylvania, and of foreign lands. The home- dwelling students are only a varying fraction of our whole number; and the others must find a place in which to live while they pursue their studies here. Where shall this be ? If we were dealing only with the minds of our students, — for the filling and training of which we had supplied a sufficiency of professors, laboratories and libraries — we need not concern ourselves further, for there are a great many persons who have rooms to rent and are prepared to furnish meals, and no doubt our students would live some- how. But they who look on this higher education as a divine mission of their lives have become intensely and painfully aware that they are dealing with, and making or marring the complex living man, and that education which leaves neglected any element in that com- 5 plexity is almost useless. They realize the physical basis of the sound mind ; they know that there is a heart hunger as well as a mental craving ; they believe that there is something moral and spiritual, for the defects of which nothing physical or intellectual can compensate. Taking the years at the University as a formative epoch in life that will influence all the hereafter, they want the student’s life to have all that life at that age requires — the physical frame well sheltered, well nurtured, with perfect hygienic habits and surroundings ; the social nature protected and developed in all recre- ative and refined associations ; the intellectual life provided for, not merely by the apparatus of the school, but by close fellowship with students ; the moral life clarified and illumined, not only by didactic teaching, but by a very atmosphere of noble living; and the religious life made natural by having its scope and opportunities in students’ services and students’ worship. An outgrowth of this feeling of the Trustees and friends of the University will be found in Howard Houston Hall, which will contribute largely to the fulfilment of the desired conditions. But it cannot meet them all, nor meet any of them completely, until every student who comes to Philadelphia for his education can find a proper home, which is in and of the Univer- sity — until, as one has wisely said, there is careful provision for all the twenty-four hours of the student’s daily life. The two provisions yet to be made are for dormitories and for a University chapel. The first of these is the one which has required the most careful consideration, and the plan which is 6 r THE FRONT OF A HOUSIC OR DORMITORY. here submitted is the result of the study, for more than four years, of the Committees to which that duty was assigned. It was at first intended to erect a single large building capable of accom- modating some two hundred students, to be followed, as means sufficed, by others of a similar character; and much thought was given to the serious problem of how, in such a building, to secure the best accommodation for the individual student and at the same time to avoid the disadvantages of such large aggregations under one roof and in continuous corridors and halls. Elaborate plans were drawn, only to be thrown aside, when it was realized that a radically different system not only met the required conditions more perfectly, and completely eliminated the most objectionable features of the large common residence, but at the same time gave scope for a far more artistic treatment. The system finally adopted and here presented consists of a series of contiguous dormitories of moderate size, which, when completed, will enclose a large “quadrangle,” each separate building accommodating, with sleeping, study and bath rooms, from twelve to fourteen students. Fortunately the University has available for this purpose an admirable plot of ground now partly occupied by the Athletic Association, which is to find its new quarters in “Franklin Field.” This plot covers the whole space enclosed between Thirty-sixth Street, Woodland Avenue and Spruce Street, and is intersected by Thirty-seventh Street only as a paved footway, which is happily treated in the architectural plan. Messrs. Cope and Stewardson were chosen as architects, and a 7 member of that firm, while in Europe this summer, visited Cambridge and Oxford, for the especial purpose of collecting material which could be utilized in the preparation of the plans which have been adopted. An inspection of the sketches herewith presented will give a good, though necessarily imperfect, idea of the system as it will be when completed. It will be seen that the separate build- ings, which have no internal communication with each other, are of very varied external design, while they form together a most harmonious and artistic series, and that the occasional larger struc- tures, including the University Chapel and the University Dining Hall, break what would otherwise be the too nearly uniform heights of the various designs. The entrances to all the dormitory halls will be from the quadrangle, and the windows will look on the one side upon the quadrangle and on the other upon the street. A general feature of the plan is to provide a spacious study with two sleeping rooms attached as a suite for two students, or, where it may be pre- ferred, a student will have a sleeping room and study to himself, suit- able provision being made for bath rooms and lavatories on each floor. The three floors in each of the dormitories are devoted to these purposes alone. The student may make his own arrangements for meals, either solitary or in common, the great Dining Hall situated within the quadrangle affording every facility for either kind of living. It is expected that most, if not all, the dormitory halls will bear appropriate individual names. The Trustees have already accorded 8 Third Tloor 'PPV ALT£e/VAT£ 5TA//P 5 TOPS A ~T 5 f CO A/D PlOOP Inly. Pntpanoz & Stair TO SECOND -ft OOP CoR£ & 3 T£. FV/I ROSON Arc ti/ T£C 7'v5 5?o Walmut 5r Prtn* \. For to Pla/nj> to So f£er. j te § THlPD flOOR So J id £\/£PV ALT£PA/AT£ 5TA //? 5 TOPS ft ^ AT 5£Ca/VD /Zoo/? £ ,0 FLOOR PLANS OF DOKMITOK1KS ON NORTH SIDF. OF QUADRANGLE — STUDIES FACING SOUTH ONLY. t/vTPAHce <£ Stair to the donors the privilege of naming the building or group erected through funds contributed for that purpose, and it is hoped that these names will come in future years to be happily associated in the minds of graduates with the memories of their University career. All Eng- land is filled with such associations. A critical examination of the designs here sketched will reveal how much has been suggested by the historic edifices of Oxford and Cambridge, and we do not hesitate to own that we look in our dormitory system for the development of some of the features which have for centuries characterized the great universities of England. Our social system is so radically different, and our educational system so much more in accord with modern needs that the American University can never be a reproduction of either the English or the German. But there is in the Hall life of the for- mer something which has been hitherto lacking in our University, and that a something which has been needed to give full tone to the University career. The several colleges which compose Oxford Uni- versity are in fact separate foundations by pious benefactors, with one of which the matriculate must connect himself and in which he must make his residence. It is not a question so much of lecture rooms and laboratories : it is of his home while at the University. He is of St. Mary’s, or Caius, or Brasenose, and it is as such that he lives and works (or don’t work) and forms the associations and friendships that remain while life endures. Around him are the traditions of centuries ; for in this Hall lived and studied men who went forth to win a fame that reflected honor upon their college : here, perhaps in 9 this very chamber, his father spent his youthful days; here he meets the man who becomes nearer to him than his own brother ; here, and not in a bare boarding house, he and his fellows brood upon the schemes that sometimes find fruition in the great movements of later days. Who can read English biography and fail to see the immense influence that came upon lives that were afterwards to influence the world from the dormitory element of the Colleges and Halls of the great English Universities ? It is a vital part of the educa- tional apparatus. It is that which gives the “ esprit du corps ” so essential to the vigor of University life, and so stimulating to the student. All that is good and fitted for our American life in this system can be developed here, if only we have the needed buildings. We need them for the student’s welfare in economy, in hygiene, in comfort, in morals ; but most of all that he may find in Alma Mater’s precincts, a home and a brotherhood to supply that in his education, which no learning of Professors and no wealth of laboratories and libraries and museums can possibly furnish. The cost of these buildings will necessarily be very great, but the money will be well spent. The city of Philadelphia will receive an added embellishment in a group of structures unequalled by any for a similar purpose in America. The University will be enriched by an equipment of which we think we have shown the need, and which will greatly increase its power to draw students from abroad. The Trustees begin this venture, by the construction of a part of the system, in the faith so often justified in these later years, that if they IO plan wisely, though it be largely, the friends of higher education will stand generously by them. Already the University grounds are assuming a monumental character. The larger number and more im- posing of its buildings are monuments of a liberality on the part of men and women who, once convinced of the existence of a real need and of well-considered plans to meet it, came forward with munificent offerings for its supply. Shall it fare otherwise with the Dormitory system, here inadequately sketched, to which the Trustees and friends of the University have given such earnest thought, and which they now hopefully begin ? • Chas. C. Harrison, Chairman. J. Vaughan Merrick, Richard Wood, Samuel Dickson, John C. Sims, H. H. Houston, John B. Gest, Charlemagne Tower, Jr., Committee. ii Dormitories University of Pennsylvania P Inl Dimensions of Rooms. 1 lie following are the dimensions of typical rooms on this floor, by which the sizes of all others may be estimated. The dimensions given in every case are the largest dimensions of the room, including all bays, alcoves, closets, fireplaces. In the case of a suite of two bed-rooms and a study only the size of the latter has been indicated. Room No. 401. 9 ft. x 18 ft. Room No. 435. 15 ft. 3 in. x 19 ft. 9 in. 402. 10 ft. x 14 ft. 439. 9 ft. 6 in. x 14 ft. 9 in. 422. 10 ft. 9 in. x 12 ft 9 in. 450. 15 ft. x 15 ft. Room No. 452. 10 ft. 6 in. x 12 ft. The exact dimensions of other rooms may be found by application at the Dean’s office, College Hall. PINE 5TREET Dormitories University of Pennsylvania 1KST Dimensions of Rooms. The following are the dimensions of typical rooms on this floor, by which the sizes of all others may be estimated. The dimensions^ given in every case are the largest dimensions of the room, including all bays, alcoves, closets, fireplaces. In the case of a suite of two bed-rooms and a study only the size of the latter has been indicated. Room No. i o i . 14 ft. x 18 ft. Room No. 126. 116. 1 1 ft. x 1 3 ft. i 4 °- 1 23. II ft. 6 in. x 16 ft. 6 in. I 4 &- The exact dimensions of other rooms may be found by application at the Dean s office, College Hall. 1 1 ft. 1 1 in. x 12 ft. 3 in. 15 ft. 2 in. x 18 ft. 1 3 ft. 4 in. x 14 ft. 7 in. Dormitories University of Pennsylvania The Dimensions of Rooms. following are the dimensions of typical rooms on this floor, by which the sizes of all others may be estimated. The dimensions given in every case are the largest dimensions of the room, including all bays, alcoves, closets, fireplaces. In the case of a suite of two bed-rooms and a study only the size of the latter has been indicated. Room No. 201. .4 x 18 ft. Room No. 227. 1 1 ft. 1 1 in. x .2 ft. 3 in. 2.6. lift. x 1 3 ft. 241. 15 ft- 2 ! nx 8 ■ . 223. 11 ft. 6 in. x 16 ft. 6 in. 2 49 - *3 ft- 4 in - x r 4 -7 exact dimensions of other rooms may be found by application at the Dean s office, College Hall. Names and Sizes or Rooms ♦ 22 2 LAVATORY ? n [1 1 20 STUDY 26 STUDY 25 u LAVATORY 24 23 L* 21 1 U 22 20 23 ^Tnrnfl 24 MEMORIAL TOWFR Applications for rooms in the Dormitories should mention both name of house and number of room, e. g.— ROBERT MORRIS io, BOD1NE 20, S 30, P 40, MEMORIAL 50. A room for two students is indicated by the figure 2 under the number of the room. For sizes of rooms refer to the scale of feet given below. Dormitories University of Pennsylvania Memorial Tower & Cross Block SCALE OF FEET. Dormitories University oe Pennsylvania TLJ7 lnlii. Dimensions of Rooms. The following are the dimensions of typical rooms on this floor, by which the sizes of all others may be estimated. The dimensions given in every case are t largest dimensions of the room, including all bays, alcoves, closets, fireplaces. In the case of a suite of two bed-rooms and a study only the size of the latter has been indicated. Room No. 300. 9 ft. 11 in. x 15 ft. 9 in. Room No. 344- 10 2 '. n - x '3 2 m - 302. 9 ft. 1 1 in. x 15 ft. 9 in. 353 - H 3 >"• * 12 J- 9 |n. 337. 15 ft. 6 in. x 19 ft. 6 in. 37°. 9 4 «n. x 13 ft. 7 in. 340. 12 ft. 6 in. x 13 ft. 6 in. 394 - 1 1 ft- x '9 ft- 9 in - The exact dimensions of other rooms may be found by application at the Dean s office, College Hall. T SPRUCE STREET Names and Sizes or Rooms Applications for rooms in the Dormitories should mention both name of house and number of room, e. g.— ROBERT MORRIS io, BODINE 20, S 30, P 40, MEMORIAL 50. A room for two students is indicated by the figure 2 under the number of the room. For sizes of rooms refer to the scale of feet given below. MEMORIAL TOWER University of Pennsylvania /Memorial Tower & Cross Slock 10 20 30 SCALE OF FEET. — J (V v V (X ■ M rv t-M Names and Sizes oe Rooms Applications for rooms in the Dormitories should mention both name of house and number of room, e. g. — ROBERT MORRIS io, BODINE 20, S 30, P 40, MEMORIAL 50. A room for two students is indicated by the figure 2 under the number of the room. For sizes of rooms refer to the scale of feet given below. Dormitories University of Pennsylvania Memorial Tower & Cross 5lock I Names and Sizes oe Rooms Applications for rooms in the Dormitories should mention both name of house and number of room, e. g. — ROBERT MORRIS io, BODINE 20, S 30, P 40, MEMORIAL 50. A room for two students is indicated by the figure 2 under the number of the room. For sizes of rooms refer to the scale of feet given below. University of Pennsylvania Memorial Tower & Cross Block R=- AN 10 EEE zo 30 I 1 -3 SCALE OF FEET. Names and Sizes oe Rooms Applications for rooms in the Dormitories should mention both name of house and number of room, e. g. — ROBERT MORRIS io, BODINE 20, S 30, P 40, MEMORIAL 50. A room for two students is indicated by the figure 2 under the number of the room. For sizes of rooms refer to the scale of feet given below. Dormitories University of Pennsylvania Memorial Tower & Cross Block SCALE OF FEET. FIFTH FLOOR MEMORIAL TOWER ■t \ niversitv of Pennsylvania, College Hall, Philadelphia, Pa. )