Penn Landmarks
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2007-2008
College Hall
College Hall was the first building on the University's new suburban campus in West Philadelphia. Designed by Thomas Webb Richards, a professor of drawing and architecture, the building housed almost all of the college functions, including the library, classrooms, laboratories and offices. In recent years, the building has been the home of the president, provost, School of Arts and Sciences, the Department of History and the Undergraduate Admissions Office.
The building's significance in the history of collegiate architecture has been recognized by U.S. Department of Interior by placing it on the National Registry of Historic Places as well as in the University of Pennsylvania Historic District.
You may have seen a version of College Hall without being aware of it. When Lurch the butler answers the door at the home of Morticia and Gomez Addams, it is College Hall that you see. Cartoonist and Penn alumnus Charles Addams is said to have used the building as his inspiration for the mansion of the Addams Family.
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