Dascomb Hall

Date

1956-present

Location

140 West College Street

Architects/Collaborators

Potter, Tyler, Martin & Roth, Cincinnati (architects)
Jennings and Churella, New London, OH (contractors)
Chandler Codlipp Associates, Inc., New York City (decorators)

Style

Contemporary

History

Dascomb Hall was one of two (the other being Barrows Hall) of the first modern residence halls constucted at Oberlin, in the wake of high enrollment after the Second World War. Oberlin had previously housed its students in a number of older residences, and one of the wooden houses taken down to make room for Dascomb Hall had the same name. It had been named for Dr. James Dascomb, the first doctor in Oberlin and one of the signers of the Oberlin Covenant in 1834. His wife was Marianne Parker Dascomb, Principal of the Women's Department from 1835-1836 and 1852-1870, and a member of the Ladies Board for forty-four years. She was America's first college dean of women. The building is faced with brick, and has panels of green marble on the left side of the entry with the name of the hall in metal letters.

Dascomb Hall is home to First Year students, with theme-based areas including the All-Female Wing and the World Cultures Wing. In 2019 the office of Campus Safety and the Student Health and Counceling Center moved to a section of Dascomb.

Source

Ohio Historic Inventory for Dascomb Hall by H. Petersen, M. Franck, D. Musson and O.H.I.O. interns, Ohio State Historic Preservation Office, December 16, 2002, accessed from the Oberlin Heritage Center website, May 26, 2015.