Burton Hall

Date

1947-present

Location

194 North Professor Street

Architects/Collaborators

Mellenbrook, Foley & Scott, Berea, OH (architects)
Albert M. Higley Co., Cleveland (contractor)

Style

Georgian Revival

History

Burton Hall was named in honor of trustee and Republican U.S. congressman Theodore Elijah Burton of the Class of 1872. His sister, Mary, married Civil War hero Giles Waldo Shurtleff, a professor, secretary and treasurer, and member of the Board of Trustees of the College. (For more information on G.W. Shurtleff and Mary Burton Shurtleff, see Shurtleff Cottage.)

Burton Hall was the second dormitory on what was called the Men's Campus. The building, completed in 1947, was designed as to be in effect three separate buildings, with interior arrangements fostering social organization into small groups. Its front facade faces a quad shared with Noah, Barrows, East and Barnard Halls. To its rear sits Zechiel and French House, and Langston Hall. Burton was designed to house 196 men; today it accommodates 185 men and women. Burton Hall houses in its basement both of Oberlin College's student-run newspapers, The Grape and The Oberlin Review.

Source

Ohio Historical Inventory for Burton Hall by Laurie Stein, Ohio State Historic Preservation Office, November 18, 2005, accessed from the Oberlin Heritage Center website, May 22, 2015.