Davison House (officially the Eliza Davison House) is a five-story dormitory on the campus of

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

in the town of

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

. Designed by Boston architecture firm Allen & Vance and built 1902, it was the fourth dorm built on Vassar's residential quadrangle. It houses 191 students of any grade or

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...

and it became Vassar's first disabled-accessible dorm following a 2008–2009 renovation.

History

Davison House was the fourth residential quadrangle (quad) dormitory to be built on the campus

in the town of

. Construction of Davison came during a period of rapid dorm-building spanning 1893–1902 during which the older seminary-style model of housing—a single large hall in which all a college's residents lived, in Vassar's case Main Building—was quickly waning in popularity in favor of smaller individual houses. The project began with the opening of Strong House in 1893 and continued with Raymond House in 1897, Lathrop House in 1901, and finally Davison in 1902. Davison House was built with funds provided by magnate and philanthropist

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...

, then a trustee at the college. Named in honor of his mother as the Eliza Davison House, it was the third structure at Vassar that Rockefeller paid for, after Strong House and Rockefeller Hall. Roofers replaced Davison's roof in 1960 and new windows were installed in 1980. A new staircase on the side of the dorm facing away from the quad was built in 2005. The dorm underwent a major renovation during the 2008–2009 school year, reopening at the beginning of the 2009–2010 academic year. The renovation included plans for upgraded accessibility, including an elevator and disabled-accessible bathrooms and doors, making it Vassar's first dorm to offer those features.

Architecture and features

Davison was designed by the Boston architectural firm of Francis Richmond Allen and J. McArthur Vance who were also responsible for the design of its neighbor, Lathrop House, in 1901. Formulating a design for these two buildings was not difficult as a template had already been set by way of the preexisting Strong and Raymond Houses.

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co ...

, a consultant of design for the college, recommended that any new dorms in the area be built in an "echelon formation" in order to provide for a greater sense of openness. Allen disregarded this advice, instead opting to place the dorm, along with Lathrop, in "two long unbroken rows of buildings on the bias". Davison was ultimately placed north of Raymond, across the quad to the west of Lathrop, and diagonally across from Strong. Standing a total of five stories tall with an additional basement level, Davison is an Elizabethan brick building. It is capped with a pitched Pennsylvania slate roof and five chimneys, each multiple

wythe A wythe is a continuous vertical section of masonry one unit in thickness. A wythe may be independent of, or interlocked with, the adjoining wythe(s). A single wythe of brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements an ...

s thick. Several

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

s also jut from the roof, each fitted with

louver A louver (American English) or louvre (British English; see spelling differences) is a window blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain and direct sunshine. The angle of the sla ...

s. The dorm features elements of brownstone trim and brownstone-capped brick

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

s. Inside the building, dorm room floors are made of wood paneling. Walls are painted

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

and fifth floor rooms feature sloped ceilings and inlaid skylights. Bathrooms have tile floors and marble sinks, while communal spaces utilize motion-sensing lighting technology. The house is

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

and currently has a capacity of 191 students. Residents of Davison, which houses students of all grades, may live in either single rooms, one-room doubles, or three-room triples with bathrooms being shared by all members of a hall. The dorm has a kitchen, a parlor abutting the quad, and, as of 2011, its basement was a frequent practice space for student bands. In a 2005 guide to the school published by College Prowler, Davison was named one of the three best dorms at Vassar, along with Main and Jewett.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

Vassar Residential Life — Davison House

Vassar College panoramic tour
— Select ''Residential'' from the righthand column, then ''Davison House''. {{Vassar College Vassar College buildings Houses completed in 1902 Buildings of the Rockefeller family University and college dormitories in the United States