Buildings Records
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Historical Note
Smith College was incorporated in 1871 and opened with fourteen enrolled students in 1875. Therefore, most of the extant buildings were erected after 1875, though there are quite a few that date from the earlier part of the 19th century and even some from the 18th. The campus is and always has been a mixture of constructed and acquired buildings: Smith' s first three buildings were Dewey House-former home of Northampton judge Charles Augustus Dewey, College Hall-built by the trustees as the first academic and administrative building, and Gateway House-built by the trustees as a home for Smith's first president, L. Clark Seelye (1875-1910). Dewey was home to the very first Smith students and today houses faculty offices and meeting rooms. The present-day campus as a whole serves as an "architectural garden," with styles ranging from Colonial to Greek Revival and Victorian Gothic to neo-Georgian, with a dose of "modern" styles added more recently. |