Choate Rosemary Hall - Buildings and Facilities

Buildings and Facilities

The 458-acre (1.85 km2) campus contains 121 buildings in a variety of architectural styles. Georgian Revival predominates (examples by famed traditionalist architect Ralph Adams Cram and by Polhemus & Coffin), but there are also eighteenth- and nineteenth-century houses and dramatic modernist structures (examples by I.M. Pei and by James Polshek). All dormitory rooms have Internet2 high-speed access, and there is wireless access in all academic buildings, the Student Activities Center, and Johnson Athletic Center. Choate Information Place (CHIP) is the electronic information resource for the campus.

Principal buildings are in Georgian red brick, often with classical porticoes that were, by design, the unifying architectural feature of the early building phase. Of this type are, in chronological order:

• Hill House: Built 1911, designed by Francis Waterman; administration offices, with dormitory above.
• West Wing: Built 1914; adjoining Hill House, a dining hall, with dormitory above.
• John Joseph Activities Center (formerly Gymnasium): Built 1917 as a gym, renovated 1979; now the student union, mail room, tuck shop, cyber cafe, games room, and school store, with a connector to the Larry Hart Pool.
• Memorial House: Built 1921; dormitory on the northwest campus, designed to mirror Hill House on the southwest campus.
• Seymour St. John Chapel (formerly St. Andrew's Chapel): Built 1924, designed by Ralph Adams Cram; recently the filming location for commercials of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
• Andrew Mellon Library: Built 1925, designed by Edward Mellon; given by U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon P'25; Library special collections include correspondence and memorabilia of John F. Kennedy '35, Adlai Stevenson '18, Edward Albee '46, Caresse Crosby '11 and other alumni, the Haffenreffer Collection of early American documents and autographs, and collections related to Thomas Hardy and other writers.
• Archbold: Built 1928, designed by Ralph Adams Cram; its scale on the northeast campus mirrors those of Hill House and Memorial House on the west campus; formerly the largest school infirmary in the country, it now houses the visitor center and admissions office, with dormitory above.
• The Hall: Built 1929; adjoining West Wing, a cavernous dining hall, with dormitory above.
• Paul Mellon Humanities Center (formerly Paul Mellon Science Hall): Built 1938, designed by Charles Fuller; houses the digital video lab and the departments of English, History, Philosophy, Religion, and Social Sciences.
• Logan Munroe House: Built 1947; dormitory forming an ensemble with Memorial House, Nichols House, and Pitman House, linked by "Mem Circle" on the northwest campus.
• Nichols House: Built 1948, designed by Polhemus & Coffin; dormitory.
• George and Clara St. John Hall: Built 1957; departments of Mathematics and Computer Science.
• Pitman House: Built 1960; dormitory.
• Library new wing: Built 1963; dedication poem read by Robert Frost.
• Steele Hall: Built 1967; departments of foreign languages.
• Tenney House and Bernhard House: Built 2008, designed by Centerbrook Architects; it follows the residential college model, the houses flank a courtyard and have a connector archway.
• East Cottage: Year Built: Unknown, Architect: Unknown; An uncharacteristic white building for the campus, it is on Memorial Circle and is a dorm for thirteen junior boys and their two prefects.

The I.M. Pei-designed buildings on campus are:

• Paul Mellon Arts Center ("PMAC"): Built 1972, the gift of Paul Mellon; it was prototype for the Pei-designed East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which was also a Paul Mellon benefaction; with an 775-seat proscenium theater designed by George Izenour, a black box theater, a recital hall, film studio, exhibition galleries, fine arts studios, music practice rooms, associated dressing rooms, and classrooms; the PMAC is also the home of the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra and a frequent venue for touring companies.
• Icahn Center for Science (formerly Paul Mellon Science Center): Built 1989, the gift of Paul Mellon, renamed in 2001 following a gift from Carl C. Icahn; with 22 classrooms, laboratories, conservatory, and auditorium; departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

Other large-scale buildings and athletic facilities include:

• The Rosemary Hall campus: Built 1971, designed by James Polshek; a complex on the heights of the northeast campus comprising, among other buildings, Bronfman, originally a library, now the Learning Community Day Care Center; Macquire Gymnasium; and Brownell, a former classroom building which now houses the offices of Alumni Relations, Development, and Information Technology. The 1971 girls dormitories were condemned and demolished in the early 2000s.
• Sally Hart Lodge: Built 1850; the alumni center, guest house, and "hotel" of the school.
• Pratt Health Center: The infirmary, staffed by 24-hour duty nurses and a pediatrician resident on campus; with the offices of Counseling and Community Service.
• Clinton Knight House and McCook House: Built 1966, designed by Frank Winder '39; twin white-brick dormitories, each forming a quadrangle with central skylight atrium.
• Worthington Johnson Athletic Center: Built 1932, designed by Lewis Augustus Coffin; north wing added in 2002, designed by Herbert Newman and Partners; originally called the Winter Exercise Building ("Winter Ex") and renamed in 1976; an enormous building whose central room was used by the Boston Braves in 1943 as their spring training infield; the WJAC contains two basketball courts, international squash courts, wrestling room, volleyball courts, suspended indoor track, ergometric room for crew, fitness and training rooms, and dance and aerobics studios.
• Remsen Arena: Built 1967, renovated 2006; ice hockey facility among whose recent alumnae are four women's Team USA Olympians.
• Larry Hart Pool: Built 1978, designed by Jeter, Cook & Jepson; a 25-meter, 8-lane, solar-heated pool, with electronic timing system and underwater windows.
• Hunt Tennis Center: Built 1995; in a terraced garden setting, with clubhouse, coaches' offices, and 22 tennis courts, six of which are all-weather USTA regulation.
• Shanahan Field: Built 2010; a complex of side-by-side artificial surface fields, in landscaping and with permanent seating and lights for night events.
• Bruce and Lueza Gelb Track: Built 2008; an 8-lane synthetic track with adjacent facilities for jumping and throwing events.
• Sylvester Boathouse: Built 1985; on Lake Quonnipaug, the crew race course.