Alumnae Hall Renaissance: A Modern Campus Center for the 21st Century

March 7, 2025 Students . Trinity . Trinity Alumnae Tags: Alumnae Hall, Campus Center, campus dining

Alumnae Hall Renaissance: A Modern Campus Center for the 21st Century

(From the Archives: Alumnae Hall 1930)

When Alumnae Hall opened for the Fall semester in 1929, it was the height in gracious living for college women of that era. With beautiful Italianate architecture including marble columns, voluminous high-ceilinged dining halls, elegant arched windows and polished terrazzo floors, the building spoke to the elegance and ambition of a women’s college early in the 20th Century. The student rooms on the upper floors embodied an entirely new concept of women’s privacy and independence, with single rooms paired as suites sharing washrooms. Across the subsequent century, generations of Trinity students enjoyed meals, ceremonies, special events and casual living in this marvelous building.

A century later, this beautiful building needs a lot of love — and money — to bring it up to 21st Century standards for living, dining and supporting campus life. The Renaissance Campaign for the Modernization of Alumnae Hall has raised more than $40 million to date, making it possible for the Board of Trustees to approve moving ahead with what is likely to be a $50-$60 million project when all expenses are included. The campaign continues, and remarkable alumnae donors and friends are contributing with extremely generous gifts. Our goal is to achieve the renovation without burdening tuition and with minimal borrowing.

On this blog I will summarize points I shared today with the Trinity community in our Campus Conversations. Going forward, we will have a special web page devoted to the project and I will also send regular updates to the campus community.

What are the Key Components of Modernizing Alumnae Hall?

While retaining the grand spaces and architectural beauty of the building, the modernization project will achieve these goals:

Install a modern air conditioning and heating system (HVAC) throughout the building; Alumnae Hall has no central air conditioning and the heat is drawn from the boilers in Main Hall; this project will give Alumnae Hall its own HVAC system independent of Main Hall, and that will make maintenance much better and easier for the future. Also, the new systems should resolve the longstanding problem of hot water generation.
New main elevator and new kitchen elevator.
Entirely new kitchen, new equipment, dining preparation facilities designed for modern expectations.
New windows that will facilitate continuous climate control in all seasons.
Restrooms on the first floor.
Accessibility through the front entrance.
Security system throughout.
Refurbished student rooms including new HVAC and plumbing upgrades.
Spacious lounges and meeting spaces providing improved student life opportunities.
Creation of an environmentally sustainable building that meets “green building” standards for DC with a goal to achieve at least silver LEED certification.

Creation of an Entirely New Dining Experience

Dining at Trinity should be for everyone on campus, not just resident students. While some commuter students, faculty and staff do enjoy some meals in Alumnae Hall, our goal is to make the main dining hall a place where everyone will want to gather, have a meal, linger over conversations, study together, and enjoy campus life as a community. We know that food is key to bringing people together, but it must be planned, prepared and presented in ways that satisfy modern tastes and the needs of a very diverse community of diners.

Our Project Management team at Brailsford & Dunlavey will meet with students, faculty and staff to get your input on all of this, and as of now in the early planning phase we envision these goals for the new dining experience in Alumnae Hall:

– Dining designed for modern tastes and expectations

– All Day dining options

– Dining for ALL students, faculty and staff at Trinity, not only residents

– “Food Court” style food preparation and delivery — emphasis on more food prepared on request that the diner can see being prepared

– Variety of food options through the day and meeting needs for

– improved nutrition
– food allergies
– vegan and other food choices
– international tastes

-Pricing plans for all participants that are affordable and that encourage everyone to enjoy dining at Trinity

– Opportunities for student learning especially around culinary management, business practices, marketing and communication, meal planning and potential for learning about food preparation

Creation of a True Campus Center

With its proximity to the Payden Academic Center, the new Alumnae Hall will become a true Campus Center attracting students, faculty and staff for dining, meeting, casual conversation, study and events in a location just steps away from the academic center. In addition to the dining halls, the building has large spaces on the basement level that lend themselves to student activity and lounge spaces. A lovely outdoor patio will lend itself to dining and gathering in good weather. Our goal will be to move student lounges away from Main Hall and into Alumnae Hall with its close proximity to the academic center.

Refurbishing Student Rooms

The student rooms on the upper floors of Alumnae Hall will be refurbished with new HVAC units (replacing the window air conditioners) and upgraded plumbing in the washrooms. The hallways and lounge areas will also receive upgrades, and security access will be improved throughout.

Timetable and Significant Action Steps

This is a complicated project, and we will rely upon the good humor and cooperation of the entire Trinity community to make it work during the period when the project is underway.

The project will take approximately two years, with a ramp-up period of about six months and construction period of about 18 month.

Several big changes will occur during the “ramp-up” period between May 2025 and December 2025:

The residential part of Alumnae Hall will close at the end of the Spring 2025 semester. Alumnae Hall residents will have the option to choose rooms on the “C” wing of Kerby Hall where we have rooms usually used for conference guests; these rooms have full bathrooms. Other students may also choose these rooms as space allows.

Starting in January 2026, dining services will move out of Alumnae Hall when construction starts. Therefore, we have identified new space for relocated dining for an 18-month period:

In January 2026, dining will move to the first floor of Cuvilly Hall where there is space that was originally constructed as a cafeteria; the first floor is large enough (on both sides) to accommodate routine dining services.

Currently, the old Cuvilly cafeteria (Pub, Rathskeller) space is where the MOT (Masters of Occupational Therapy) lab is. So, that lab will move from Cuvilly over to the Payden Center to join the other Health Professions labs on the second floor of Payden. This move will occur in early Summer 2025 so that the new lab is ready for Fall 2025 classes.

Once the lab space is vacated, the contractors will create a new kitchen and service area in that part of Cuvilly. That process will take most of the Fall 2025 semester.

The new “Cuvilly Cafe” will open in January 2026 as the primary dining space on campus for the next 18 months.

Also in January 2026, the construction work on Alumnae Hall will begin, extending to Fall 2027.

Our goal is to have the “new” Alumnae Hall open by Fall 2027, although changing conditions could push that date back to Spring 2028, we are prepared to be flexible if unforseen conditions arise.

Below is the timetable in chart form: