Two major housing construction projects for undergraduates are nearing completion, tangible signs of progress in President Sian Leah Beilock’s commitment to add a total of 1,000 beds for students, faculty, and staff within a decade while also revitalizing existing residence halls across campus.
Fayerweather Hall will re-open in June to undergraduates, with the renovation and expansion of the 120-year-old residence hall adding 35 new beds, elevators, and a new South House social center.
Meanwhile, construction on Russo Hall—the first of four new residence halls that are transforming West Wheelock Street—is on track to open this fall. Russo Hall will house 283 juniors and seniors, who will live in apartment-style suites.
“We are reaching important milestones in terms of housing supply and serving the well-being of students on campus,” says Josh Keniston, senior vice president for operations and strategic initiatives.
“The housing renewal program, in particular, is helping us take a close assessment of our core campus to make sure that all our undergraduate residences are physically and environmentally sustainable for the next hundred years and also truly support the needs of a vibrant and active learning community.”
Both the new and renewed residence halls are designed with energy-saving features and air conditioning and will be served by the hot-water heating system being installed around campus.
When undergraduates move back into two floors of Fayerweather Hall for summer term, with full occupancy in the fall, they will find a light-filled, accessible, energy-efficient, and thoroughly updated residence that preserves the historic character of the three original Neo-Georgian buildings and connects them—under one roof—to the future.
At Russo Hall, most suites will have four single bedrooms, two single-user bathrooms, and share an open-concept living room and kitchen space. Students will also have access to private conversation spaces on each floor suitable for telehealth appointments or job interviews.
Building amenities in Russo Hall include a beautiful wood-paneled library with spaces for students to collaborate or focus independently and a lounge space known as the Den, as well as flexible social spaces with comfortable furniture, a game room, and bike storage.
The progress on new beds is having an added benefit for students—when Fayerweather opens this summer, undergraduates will no longer be assigned to live at the off-campus Summit at Jupiter apartment complex, which in addition to housing graduate students has also been used as a swing space for the housing renewal program.
A new neighborhood on West Wheelock Street
Russo Hall, named for donors Thomas A. Russo ’77 and Gina T. Russo ’77, isn’t the only new residence hall planned for West Wheelock Street in the West End of campus. Fall 2028 will see the opening of the Class of 1989 Hall, Shonda Rhimes Hall, and Alumnae Hall, which together will house an additional 404 juniors and seniors in apartment-style suites.
Dartmouth has broken ground on all three residences, which will be connected by an underground passage. Students will be able to enter and exit the buildings both from the ground level on West Wheelock Street and from the fifth floor on Thayer Drive, providing easy access to the West End academic facilities.
Like Russo Hall, Class of ’89, Rhimes, and Alumnae halls will offer a variety of social and study spaces, and each will boast feature spaces: a café operated by Dartmouth Dining Services in the Class of 1989 Hall; a large common living room, soundproof pods for music practice, a wellness studio with exercise equipment and room for small exercise classes such as yoga in Rhimes Hall; and a “treehouse” reading room in Alumnae Hall.
Alumnae Hall, backed by alumnae leaders who have each committed $1 million, will also be home to a gathering space suitable for a variety of events, connected to a community kitchen.
Fayerweather renewal: Where new meets old
At Fayerweather, two modern additions—each containing an elevator, bedrooms, and study and gathering spaces—now connect the five stories of the original Mid Fayerweather to the old North and South Fayweather buildings. The residence hall is part of South House, and the renovation has been funded via gifts from Karen and Jim Frank ’65, the Manton Foundation, and a family that wishes to remain anonymous.
“They are no longer separate buildings,” says Sarah Tucker, project manager in Campus Services. “You can walk from the south end to the north end on all five levels, and all five levels are wheelchair accessible. Anyone can go on any of those levels, from one end to the other.”
The exteriors of the additions are clad in a bronze-colored terracotta tile and copper—living materials that both complement the original brick and proclaim the spaces as new. The fifth floor, formerly used for storage, has been fully insulated and converted into liveable rooms, including bedrooms with dormers and nooks that create a character found only in older buildings.
Every window in the building has been replaced with energy-efficient glass while preserving the historic look of the originals. Students will be able to partially open the windows for fresh air; when they do, a sensor will automatically turn off the heating and air conditioning in the room. The building’s HVAC is fully connected to the efficient—and growing—low-temperature hot water distribution system on campus, and thermostats in each bedroom will allow students to control the temperature within a set range.
The former parking lot between Fayerweather and Dartmouth Hall is being landscaped with grass and granite benches, creating what Tucker calls “an inviting outdoor living room.”
Each floor contains a mix of bedrooms—mostly one-room doubles and singles—with a total of 263 beds.
Each floor also features single-user bathrooms, kitchenettes, common study and social rooms in a variety of sizes, and spaces where students can have private conversations such as telehealth appointments or job interviews.
The ground floor contains South House offices and apartments for the assistant house director and bedrooms for resident fellows, as well as a reading room, a full kitchen, a wellness room, Fresh Zone vending machines with 24/7 healthy food options, music practice rooms, study rooms, bicycle storage, and a large laundry facility with a dozen washers and dryers.
Next up for housing renewal
Renewals have already been completed in East Wheelock House’s Zimmerman Hall, Andres Hall, Morton Hall, and Brace Commons.
The next residence slated for renewal is the Native American House, a living learning community on North Main Street that since 1995 has served as a key social and cultural center for Native American and Indigenous students. Construction begins this summer on an expansion and renovation that will create additional gathering space, more bedrooms and bathrooms for residents, and needed upgrades to the building’s heating and cooling systems.
In summer 2027, construction is expected to begin on the full renovation of Mass Row, which is part of School House. Like Fayerweather, this project will involve connecting three century-old buildings into one and fully modernizing their systems while preserving their historic character.
Lessons learned from Fayerweather are already informing plans for Mass Row, from solutions to route mechanical and electrical systems through low ceilings to the challenge of preserving historic brick for aesthetic purposes.
Ribbon-cutting for employee housing
Dartmouth has also been developing new housing for employees. President Beilock joined in a ribbon-cutting last month at the 21-unit Sugarwood Circle housing development for staff and faculty in West Lebanon, N.H., about a mile south of campus.
Keniston says that between housing renewal and new construction, 783 new beds will be available by the fall of 2028, putting Dartmouth ahead of schedule to achieve its goal of 1,000 new beds by 2033.
