College Hall (University of Pennsylvania)

College Hall is the oldest building on the West Philadelphia campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to its construction, the university was located on Ninth Street in Center City, Philadelphia. The building was designed by Thomas Webb Richards and completed in 1873. The characteristic green color of the building is due to its composition of green serpentine stone.

College Hall
General information
Type	Academic, research
Location	University City
Address	3450 Woodland Walk Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Opened	1872 (1872)[1]
Owner	University of Pennsylvania
Height
Architectural	Victorian gothic
Technical details
Material	Stone
Size	110,266 square feet (10,244.0 m2)
Floor count	6
Lifts/elevators	1
Grounds	0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Thomas W. Richards
College Hall, University of Pennsylvania U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. Historic district Contributing property College Hall in 1892 Show map of Philadelphia Show map of Pennsylvania Show map of the United States Location Bounded by Walnut, Spruce, 34th, and 36th Sts., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Coordinates 39°57′4.6″N 75°11′37.5″W Area 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) Built 1872 Architect Thomas W. Richards Architectural style Victorian Gothic NRHP reference No. 78002444[2] Added to NRHP February 14, 1978

College Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places February 14, 1978.[3] It is also a contributing property of the University of Pennsylvania Campus Historic District.

The building currently houses the undergraduate admissions office, the university president's offices, the Department of History, and classrooms.[4] The top floor of College Hall was purpose built for the Zelosophic and Philomathean Societies, and is presently home to the Philomathean Society, a literary society founded in 1813.

Although College Hall and the now-demolished Blanchard Hall were rumored to be the model for the Victorian Gothic mansion in The Addams Family cartoons, the cartoonist Charles Addams repeatedly denied the claims.[5]