Dartmouth Hall Renovation

Familiar to successive generations of Dartmouth men for more than 140 years, 105 Dartmouth Hall is currently undergoing the fourth major renovation in its history. Over the years, it has served as College chapel, examination room, lecture hall, and meeting room.

From 1828, when it was built into the already existing Dartmouth Hall, until 1885, when Rollins Chapel was constructed, the two-story room was the site of required morning and evening devotions. After that, it was used for "senior rhetoricals," public speaking exercises, and for class and mass meetings. When Dartmouth Hall burned to the ground in 1904 and was rebuilt to the exact external dimensions, 105 Dartmouth became a one-story lecture hall. It was restored to the original two-story design after the 1935 fire.

Since then the main floor and overhanging balconies on three sides have accommodated up to 765 people in large lecture courses, at public programs featuring the great and the neargreat of more than three decades, at student examinations, and for the Great Issues course required of all seniors from 1947 to 1965.

The current renovation will bring 105 Dartmouth Hall back to a one-story room, with a seating capacity of 196, reflecting the trend away from large lecture courses and the facilities now available in other buildings. The space above and below the balconies is being closed off, yielding ten additional rooms for seminars and study areas.