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Building History

In 1917, it was decided that the first women's dormitory at Stanford University, Roble Hall #1, had proved unsatisfactory for a portion of the 500 women admitted to the university each year since 1899. A new and modern Spanish Colonial Revival dorm was planned, also named Roble Hall, completed in 1918. (Roble Hall #1, designed by the pioneer in reinforced concrete design, Ernest L. Ransome (1844-1917), was subsequently renamed Sequoia Hall, which operated as a men's dormitory between 1918-1957.) The new dorm was constructed of hollow clay tiles, which often do not perform well in earthquakes, but the university seismically upgraded the structure the year before the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989.

San Francisco architect George W. Kelham (1871-1936) designed the H-shaped Roble Hall #2 as a replacement for Roble Hall #1 (1891), the first dormitory for women on the Stanford University Campus. Roble Hall #2 housed women from 1917-1968, when it was converted to coed housing. The Campus Guide to Stanford University (Second Edition), meticulously written by Richard Joncas, Paul V. Turner, and David J., Neuman, said of Roble Hall: "Kelham, who designed the San Francisco Public Library (1916), conceived Roble as two H-plans side by side, but only one block and an additional wing were built and joined by what was to be a temporary hall, some sharing sitting rooms, which were broken up into units of fifty in each wing, one floor of the center arm, and an additional wing. Two dining rooms were included in the main building. The refinement of Roble Hall, in contrast to the heavy forms and abstract details of Bakewell and Brown's men's dorms, may reflect Kelham's experience designing the Palace Hotel in San Francisco." (See Richard Joncas, Paul V. Turner and David J. Neuman, The Campus Guide Stanford University, [New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006], p. 71.) Roble Hall #2 may also have contained lighter, more refined forms (compared to Bakewell and Brown's earlier men's dorms) because Bakewell and Brown may have felt that this heightened formal delicacy more appropriate for a building housing only female students. For Beaux-Arts-trained architects, a building's plan and form had to be appropriate for its purpose.

Building Notes

Roble Hall #2, seismically upgraded twice, remains the oldest active dormitory on the Stanford Campus, accommodating 310 students. It faces Lake Lagunita to the southwest and another dorm, Lagunita Court to the west.

In 2016, men and women of all four undergraduate classes lived on the same floors, but were segregated by gender in separate corridors. Roble Hall #2 contained single, double, and quad-occupancy room arrangements. The Stanford University Residential Dining Enterprises web site said of the Roble Hall's dining options: "Serving residents of Roble Hall and Lagunita Court, Lakeside Dining features a wide variety of superb entree options. Its auxiliary operation, Latenite at Lakeside, is one of the few after-hours dining options on campus and offers oven-fresh pizza, grab n' go snacks, confections, and fresh salads and fruit until 2am, five nights a week." At this time, the dorm had the following communal facilities: "Roble has a variety of common areas including a library, theatre, seminar room, game lounge, music room, study room, computer cluster, and 2 laundry rooms." (See Stanford University, Residential Dining Enterprises, "Roble Hall," accessed 08/01/2016.)

Alteration

A semi-detached C wing was built at a later date. Roble Hall #2 underwent seismic retrofitting in 1987-1989; it reopened for Fall Quarter 09/1989, in advance of the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 10/17/1989. The building weathered the quake without damage, unlike many buildings on the Stanford Campus.

The Campus Projects Office undertook another retrofitting effort during the summers 2005 and 2006, a process that cost approximately $17 million. At this time, "Four original Corinthian column capitals which had been abandoned in the basement of B wing were also found." (See Stanford University, Residential Dining Enterprises, "Roble Hall," accessed 08/01/2016.)

PCAD id: 16153