Printer-friendly version
WHY WEST PHILLY ARCHITECTURE GIVES US THE CREEPS
Among the trivia that all prospective students learn on their official tour of Penn is that College Hall was the inspiration for the mansion that houses the Addams family, the “creepy and kooky” clan created by renowned cartoonist and Penn alum Charles Addams. As it turns out, the connection between the two buildings is nothing more than one of the University’s most widely circulated legends.
The idea that Addams — who received a degree in fine arts from Penn in 1934 — based the “mysterious and spooky” mansion on the University’s central building was merely an easy assumption made by those who observed the cartoonist’s “love for towering gothic facades,” according to urban studies professor George Thomas’s book Building America’s First University. In fact, Addams himself repeatedly denied the rumors. But the story was perpetuated by a 1973 Pennsylvania Gazette issue, which featured an illustration of the Addams family standing in front of College Hall on the magazine’s cover.
The cartoonist, who passed away in 1988, has left a more legitimate legacy on campus in recent years, however. In 2001, the former Faculty Club was renovated and renamed Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall, thanks to a donation from his widow. The building, located at Walnut and 36th Streets, was the first permanent home for the Penn fine arts department.
Though the rumors about College Hall are decidedly false, campus is filled with other eerie Gothic architecture that could have inspired Addams. Chances are Cousin It and the gang would feel right at home at Penn.
— Inna Lifshin
PENN DOES ITS BEST TO PROTECT STUDENT VIRGINITY
For many freshmen, the Hill College House experience is marked by cramped quarters, co-ed camaraderie and gossip of hallcest. But 50 years ago, the dormitory was all-female — a housing policy reinforced by the building’s medieval design.
Hill, originally named the Women’s Residence Hall, was built in 1960 with a drawbridge, moat and spiked fence intended to keep those frisky men out. This was also done to “make parents feel secure about their daughters moving into Wild West Philly,” said Thomas. During these years, gender-specific housing was just one way of ensuring that women would stay out of trouble — female students were required to wear skirts or dresses to class and had to abide by an 11 p.m. curfew, according to a 2001 article from the Daily Pennsylvanian. Penn dorms finally became co-ed in 1970, when 100 female students were allowed to live in the Quad for the first time.
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Technorati
Grab the RSS feed
Post new comment