The Quad at 125: a Penn Landmark

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National Architecture Week at Penn

This year, Penn commemorates the 125th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of its famous Quadrangle. To highlight the occasion, Almanac presents a history of one of Penn’s most iconic buildings. The Quad at 125: A Penn Landmark Photograph Courtesy of the University Archives Photograph Courtesy of the University The Quadrangle’s iconic Memorial Tower is shown here in a 1901 photo. Its design firm, Cope and Stewardson, was inspired by the late Edwardian architecture in Great Britain. Note how the building ends on the left of the photo; the years after this picture was taken would see Penn expand the Quadrangle generously.

In the early 1870s, Penn moved from its former Center City campus to as to the necessity for some sort of adequate accommodation for our stu- a new location west of the Schuylkill River. Despite Penn’s majestic early dents, but the question of raising several hundred thousand dollars must flagship buildings like Thomas Webb Richards’ College Hall (1873) and be settled first.” Medical Hall (now Claudia Cohen Hall; 1874) and Frank Furness’s beau- In 1891, Penn’s Trustees elected to prioritize the issue of housing. That tiful University Library (1891), it took the University several years to pro- year, the Trustees began planning the construction of a new dormitory build- vide spaces for students to live on campus. The University initially con- ing on a lot bounded by 36th, Spruce and Pine Streets and Woodland Walk, structed a few makeshift dormitory buildings, but they did not have a large which they had bought from the city of Philadelphia for $10,000 in 1882. capacity and did not leave much impression on the student body. They considered a trapezoidal, single-story design, submitted by architect By the late 1880s, housing had become one of many pressing issues Addison Hutton, which juxtaposed a single row of rooms with well-lighted facing Penn; in 1889, Penn’s Trustees discussed both the construction of corridors and would have allowed for expansion as demand grew. “The dor- dormitories and the question of whether to allow women to study at the mitories are coming,” trumpeted The Pennsylvanian on May 14, 1891—but University. As an anonymous (and undoubtedly male) columnist noted this announcement was premature. Despite a modification to the plan that ex- in The Pennyslvanian (the predecessor to today’s Daily Pennsylvanian) panded the dormitories to four stories, the Trustees rejected this scheme as on October 23, 1889, rather unfortunately, “The University stands in far too impractical. greater need of suitable dormitories to accommodate the students which The next year (1892), Philadelphia architecture firm Cope and Steward- it now has than it does of incurring the expenses which the introduction son presented a neo-Gothic design for a dormitory building that used the of co-education would necessarily entail.” Student agitation for new dor- available land more efficiently, and the Board of Trustees accepted this pro- mitory buildings was rife in the early 1890s, leading the Pennsylvanian posal. Ivy League-educated architects Walter Cope (a professor at Penn) editorial board to caution in a February 26, 1890, issue that “to the best and John Stewardson had already added Collegiate Gothic buildings to the of our knowledge, dormitories will be erected just as soon as the money campus of Bryn Mawr College (and would soon accept a commission from to pay for them is forthcoming. Every one, so far as we know, is agreed Princeton University). The Trustees and the student body alike had high (continued on page II) ALMANAC Supplement April 7, 2020 I www.upenn.edu/almanac National Architecture Week at Penn

(continued from page I) hopes for Penn’s new dormitories: As a Pennsylvanian writer said on No- vember 13, 1894, “the buildings will be put up by the same architects who erected the Bryn Mawr dormitories, but will exceed even those in beauty and accommodations.” Rather than use the entire empty lot they had bought a decade earlier, Penn’s Trustees initially elected to just build in the triangle framed by Pine, Woodland, and 37th Streets. The rectangular block between 36th and 37th Streets had become a popular ad hoc athletic field, and -con structing buildings on this land would have left students without athletic space (until the completion of Franklin Field in 1895). Despite these delays, Provost William Custis Harrison, one of the chief advocates for new dorms, pressed forward with the design process. In 1894, pleased by the drawings submitted by Cope and Stewardson, Dr. Harrison made the firm the University’s official architects, replacing Frank Furness. Cope and Stewardson drew a series of sketches for buildings that were inspired by the college house systems of Oxford and Cambridge, both in their ref- erence to 19th-century Gothic architecture and conceptual layout. They drew buildings with broken facades, varied materials and a series of beau- tiful archways that recalled Gothic Europe. On November 5, 1895, the cornerstone was laid with much ceremony (and after a long delay—it had originally been scheduled to be laid six months earlier during Alumni Day festivities): “The laying of the cornerstone of the dormitories this after- noon marks an epoch in the history of Pennsylvania. For years the want of suitable accommodation for its students has been one of the Universi- The 1911 photo shows the Provosts Tower, constructed the previous year; below ty’s most argent and pressing needs,” apostrophized The Pennsylvanian is a 1901 view of one of the dormitories’ earliest rooms. on October 31. Unfortunately, the difficult winter of 1895-1896 delayed construction. With these delays, Penn students got cold feet: “We wish to cor- rect a rumor which seems to have gained credence among some of the students that the rules regarding the use of rooms in the new dormitories are to be unnecessarily rigid and severe,” ran a March 3, 1896 Pennsyl- vanian piece. “Some students have heard somewhere that the men would be obliged to be in their rooms at some particular hour at night, and that there would be regulations regarding the burning of lights in the rooms after certain hours, etc. Upon inquiry, we find the rumor to be without the slightest foundation.” Finally, on September 30, 1896, a couple days after the start of the fall semester, the dormitories opened and began to fill with students. The Pennsylvanian noted that a set of steps would lead from the “triangle” down to the adjacent athletic grounds. Gates at the entrances to the dormitories at 37th & Spruce and 37th & Pine would close off the interior court- Photographs Courtesy of the University Archives Photographs Courtesy of the University

yard to the public. Penn, meanwhile, worked on finding firewood and fur- niture for the rooms and settling laundry arrangements. Penn’s new dormitories quickly became a center of campus life. The Pennsylvanian reported on the proceedings of the college house govern- ments, which comprised students and faculty, and fierce but friendly in- tramural sports rivalries between the various college houses. Just two months after the dormitories opened, The Pennsylvanian warned that “the use of light in the Dormitories is far in excess of what is reasonable or nec- essary and we believe the students should take note of this and be more economical in the future.” In 1897, students raised a complained that there were not enough bicycle racks in the dorms’ courtyards, but this issue was resolved with the addition of more bike parking. Despite these quibbles, students grew attached to dorm life. As student George Henderson asked rhetorically in a pamphlet he wrote in 1909, “Did you ever live in the ‘dorms’? Then you did not know what ‘dorm’ life means for college spir- it. Several hundred men who live in the same big family have a feeling of common fellowship.” He also urged Penn, “although [the dorms] are go- Photograph Courtesy of the University Archives Photograph Courtesy of the University ing up steadily, they might well go up faster.” A view of the Triangle, as it was then known, from the corner of 38th Street, So successful were Penn’s dormitories that the University decided to Spruce Street, and Pine Street (now Hamilton Walk). This 1900 photo predates the construction of the Memorial Tower. (continued on page III) www.upenn.edu/almanac II ALMANAC Supplement April 7, 2020 National Architecture Week at Penn

(continued from page II) expand them almost immediately. In 1897, The Pennsylvanian Houses. After this addition, World War I abruptly halted any further de- announced plans to erect the third side of the triangle, which in its velopment. Still, during the 1910s, the Quadrangle (as it finally came to original form had only had two wings, arranged in a V-shape. Two years be known during this era) enjoyed possibly its greatest popularity among later, Penn solicited bids for this addition, which now was to include a students, according to historian Elizabeth A. Linck in a 1990 essay about memorial tower to hon-or Penn’s veterans and casualties of the Spanish- the dorms’ history. Penn arranged for these rooms to be furnished elabo- American War. Cope and Stewardson, the firm the Trustees selected, rately with upholstered chairs and sofas, Persian rugs and garish arrays of designed a tower that combined elaborate stonework and brickwork with curtains. The 1910s also the Quad hit its stride as a center for student life, four copper-clad ogee turrets, vis-ible from several blocks away. The new serving as the setting for sing-alongs, athletic events, performances by the additions to the dormitories, now informally known as the Triangle Penn Band and the annual Freshman Bowl Fight (a tradition that ended among the student body, opened in the summer of 1900. However, a in tragedy in 1916 with the death of a freshman). In 1925, with the war backlash arose; the community criticized the Memorial Tower because its over and the Jazz Age in full swing, Penn added the Ashurst and Magee British architecture undermined the American heroism it supposedly houses in the Lower Quad, and in 1929, they built the Ward, Warwick, celebrated. McIlhenny and Chesnut houses. These new buildings, designed by Stew- Despite the critics, though, Penn students loved the atmosphere and ardson and Page (the successors to Cope and Stewardson, cofounded by ar-chitecture of the new dormitories. And so, in 1906, Penn decided to Stewardson’s brother Emlyn following the deaths of both original princi- expand the buildings again, this time onto the previously unused block pals), featured Victorian detailing, though no sweeping architectural ges- between 36th and 37th Streets. With the completion of Franklin Field a tures like the Memorial Tower. decade ear-lier, students had a state-of-the-art athletic space, and the On September 27, 1929, The Pennsylvanian announced plans to ex- University had fewer qualms about gobbling up the site. The tend the dormitories along Hamilton Walk, fully closing off the Low- Pennsylvanian of October 24, 1906 announced that construction had er Quad and including such extravagances as a chapel and a dining hall. begun the previous day, and by March of 1907, a line of newly opened (continued on page IV) dormitories extended from the Me-morial Tower at 37th and Spruce Streets to 36th Street. One of these new houses was the Birthday House, which was named by Ellen Nixon Waln in a birthday tribute to her husband, Provost Harrison, who had driven much of the Quadrangle’s construction. Also part of the new addition was a club-house for Penn’s famous Mask and Wig Club. The next year, Penn an-nounced a new tower at the corner of 36th and Spruce Streets, next to the University Hospital. “The new tower will form the principal gateway for that part of the Dormitories,” announced The Pennsylvanian on September 28, 1909. “In plan the new tower will much resemble Memorial Tower.” The Provosts Tower, adorned with an Edward Maene marble tablet honor-ing the school’s first 12 provosts, and the adjacent Graduate House, opened in September of 1910. Penn continued to expand its dormitories throughout the next half decade, opening two new houses in 1914, today’s Thomas Penn and Cleeman Photograph Courtesy Penn Architectural Archives Photographs courtesy of the University Archives Photographs courtesy of the University By 1918, the Quadrangle has become a well-known and well-loved fixture of Detail of an 1899 elevation of Memorial Tower by Cope and Stewardson, a Penn’s campus. firm that designed several buildings on Penn’s campus.

ALMANAC Supplement April 7, 2020 III www.upenn.edu/almanac National Architecture Week at Penn

With the twin financial crunches of the Great Depression and World War II, Penn did not expand the Quad further until the 1950s. In 1953, the University announced construction of a new physics building (today’s David Rittenhouse Laboratory) and a new addition to the Quadrangle, subsidized by a federal loan and designed by distinguished Philadelphia firm Trautwein and Howard. In the spring of 1955, three new houses were completed, fully enclosing the Lower Quad; one was named Butcher, and the other two houses went by the names Dorm A and Dorm B for a while. These later became Class of 1928 and Speakman Houses, respectively. In 1959, Trautwein and Howard designed the final addition to the Quad- rangle, McClelland Hall. The showplace of the Quad when it opened, it “greatly added to the convenience and comfort of the student body,” The Daily Pennsylvanian (as the paper was renamed in 1934) reported on Sep- tember 8. “The air-conditioning proved to be a great gift when the mercu- ry soared above 90 during last year’s final exam period.” With this addition, the Quad took the shape that is recognizable today. In 1960, Penn began to concentrate its efforts to expand housing else- where: That year, a new women’s dormitory (now Hill House) opened at 34th and Walnut Streets, and later in the decade, English House was built at 36th and Sansom Streets. The next several decades brought Superblock (today’s high rises) and the Graduate Student Towers (today Sansom Place East and West). However, despite these new constructions, Penn did not neglect the Quadrangle, its most historic and recognizable dorm building. In 1971, Penn finally allowed women to live there, and renovations throughout the last half century, including major ones in 1968, 1976-1977, 1987, and in the early 2000s, have brought the buildings’ living, dining and washing areas up to a modern standard while maintaining the buildings’ historic facades. In the 1970s, Penn split the Quad’s two college houses into four houses, but the latest renovation, which took place from 1998 to 2002, reorganized them into three, among other improvements. Today, the Quad comprises Riepe, Ware and Fisher-Hassenfeld College Views of rooms in the Quad, in 1917 above and 1968 below, show how student Houses, all named after notable alumni who contributed funding towards lifestyles changed over the last century. the renovation of buildings and creation of the houses. Today, the Quadrangle continues to serve as a center of University life. In 1973, students started the annual tradition of Spring Fling, which has taken place in the Quad for many of the years of its occurrence. Oth- er Penn traditions, like the annual Econ Scream, take place there, and the picturesque combination of Collegiate Gothic architecture and fall foliage continues to feature prominently in brochure photos and on Penn’s web- site. In 1973, when Penn’s campus was inducted into the National Reg- ister of Historic Places, the Quadrangle was a centerpiece of the nomina- tion document, which praised its “stately towers, decorated entrances and archways, an arcaded terrace and landscaped courtyards.” The University recently selected acclaimed historic preservation architects, Beyer Blind- er Belle, to oversee a multi-year renovation of the Quad, ensuring its continued amenity for the next century of Penn students. Whether a historical attraction or a dynamic hub of student activity, the Quadrangle has been, and will continue to be, integral to Penn’s culture. — Jackson Betz (C’19) A special thanks to Mark Kocent, University Architect, and David Brownlee, History of Art, for their assistance with this story. Photographs courtesy of the University Archives Photographs courtesy of the University (continued from page III)

However, these plans hit a speed bump with the outbreak of the Great De- pression a month later. Penn, in response, tightened regulations for Quad- rangle residents: freshman men, and later upperclassmen as well, were re- quired to live in the Quadrangle, with family, or in a University-approved fraternity house or apartment building. Despite this increased regulation, student life in the Quad continued to sparkle, and in the 1930s, the Uni- versity began holding Commencement in the lower Quad, a tradition that continued off-and-on until the 1950s. The Quad’s student government also evolved during this time: Instead of each house governing itself separate- ly, students formed two overarching houses. These houses were the nucle- us of Penn’s later college house system. Photograph courtesy of David Brownlee The Quad is still alive and well in 2019.