How old is Barnard Hall?

The university began planning Barnard Hall in 1906 in response to a growing demand for more women’s accommodations from the parents of prospective students. It officially opened on October 11, 1913, making it 112 years old and the only centenarian residence hall still in use at the UW. (The Van Hise dorms, Adams and Tripp, were built in 1926 and will next reach that status.) Like its connecting building, old Chadbourne Hall, Barnard was named with a dose of irony. Chadbourne was a women’s dorm named for a past chancellor (Paul Chadbourne), who didn’t support coeducation, and Barnard was named for a past chancellor (Henry Barnard), who didn’t want student housing on campus at all. Yet the “Barnyard” still stands. Over the past century, Barnard’s original servants’ quarters on the top floor have been converted to student rooms, housemothers have been replaced with floor house fellows, and modern renovations have kept the building up-to-date for its co-ed residents.