College Hall (University of Pennsylvania)

College Hall, University of Pennsylvania
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Location	Bounded by Walnut, Spruce, 34th, and 36th Sts., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
Area	0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
Built	1872
Architect	Thomas W. Richards
Architectural style	Victorian Gothic
NRHP Reference #	78002444
Added to NRHP	February 14, 1978

College Hall is the oldest building on the West Philadelphia campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to its construction, the university was located on Ninth Street in Center City, Philadelphia. The building was designed by Thomas Webb Richards and completed in 1873. The characteristic green color of the building is due to its composition of green serpentine stone.

College Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places February 14, 1978. It is also a contributing property of the University of Pennsylvania Campus Historic District.

The building currently houses the undergraduate admissions office, the university president's offices, the Department of History, and classrooms. The top floor of College Hall is also home to the Philomathean Society, a literary society founded in 1813.

Although College Hall and the now-demolished Blanchard Hall were rumored to be the model for the Victorian Gothic mansion in The Addams Family cartoons, the cartoonist Charles Addams repeatedly denied the claims.

Gallery

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  College Hall and Logan Hall, from Woodland Ave., ca. 1892.

• College Hall and U of PA Library from the west.jpg

  College Hall and U. of PA Library, from Locust St., ca. 1901.

• College Hall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.jpg

  College Hall, from the southeast, before 1910.

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  Statue of Benjamin Franklin in front of College Hall.