Guest House, YMCA Building
Excerpt from Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College[1]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guest House, YMCA Building,
1915-1916
Cost: $3,500
The Prudential Committee (December 1, 1915) discussed, voted and ultimately constructed a Guest House during that winter term (Berea Citizen, November 12, 1959, 1). Herbert A. Wilder, College Trustee (1900-1920) from Boston, gave the funds to build this men's residence that was built by student labor during December and January 1915-1916 (PCM, December 1, 1915). This wooden clapboarded, symmetrical structure with wooden sash windows, had a four columned front porch, twelve bedrooms and space to house thirty men. In 1927, the Guest House which stood at the north edge of the Science/Liberal Arts Building "and east of Lincoln Hall", was moved west of Pearsons Hall where it continued to serve as a men's dormitory until 1959. It was heated with steam supplied from Pearsons' heating system, but some students said that it "never dried from the summer rain nor warmed from the winter's cold". Until 1937, the YMCA was in charge of the Guest House which at that point provided temporary quarters for men who had yet to be assigned a dormitory room. It was used as a men's dormitory from 1937 until spring 1959. Razed during October, 1959, the site was used to build Dana Residence Hall (Berea Citizen, June 30, 1927, 4; October 29, 1959, 1; November 12,
1959, 1; Berea Alumnus, April 1961, 5; BCABG, 5.39, box 3).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Citation: Boyce, Robert Piper. Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College. Self-published. Berea, Ky: Berea College Printing Services, 2006, p85..
NOTE: This content is reproduced here with permission of the author and is COPYRIGHT PROTECTED. Fair Use access granted for educational purposes only, therefore, this content may be used in the classroom or classroom assignments without prior permission as long as proper citation is provided. For commercial use, publication, or reproduction, permission must be obtained from copyright holder or owner.
Works Cited
Boyce, Robert Piper. Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College. Self-published. Berea, Ky: Berea College Printing Services, 2006, p85.
Guest House. Print Image. Boyce, Robert Piper. Building A College: An Architectural History of Berea College. Self-published. Berea, Ky: Berea College Printing Services, 2006, p85.
