New Student Issue: Your guide to Penn's array of dorms

From the historic, decorated Quad to the brand new College House opening this fall, Penn offers a variety of living options.

New College House

The New College House will be located on 34th and Chestnut streets, next to Hill College House, which will be closed in the fall for renovations. The dorms in this house will be suite style with seasonally air-conditioned rooms. All students living in the new house will be first-year students this year, but this will likely change in the future when Hill reopens. For now, though, the New College House is the hotspot for incoming freshmen.

The Quadrangle

Built in 1895, the Quad runs along Spruce Street. The Quad’s picturesque architecture has made it a well-known part of Penn’s campus and a common favorite for Penn freshman.

The building is home to three College Houses: Fisher Hassenfield, Ware and Riepe. The Quad has some great location perks: It’s close to several of Penn’s buildings where freshmen often have classes, and during the week popular food trucks line up outside the Quad on Spruce Street. The Quad also features McClelland Dining Hall, a dining center in which students can use their dining dollars or meal swipes. Inside the building, the halls are sometimes oddly shaped and a bit confusing, but the rooms are equipped with air-conditioning, a definite plus.

High Rises

The high rises — Harnwell, Harrison and Rodin — tower over Locust Walk just past 38th Street. The rooms are all suite style and most students that live there are upperclassmen, but some residential programs offer spots in the high rises to freshmen too. Having a high rise room as a freshman might be off-putting since there are not many other freshmen around, but can be useful — anyone living there has an advantage when selecting rooms for the following year.

Kings Court English College House

Kings Court English College House — also known as KCHECH — is located on Sansom Street. Though this College House is a little further from campus, its location has some benefits: it faces a series of restaurants, including popular brunch spot White Dog Café. It’s also right next to Penn Law School, so KCHECH residents often use the quiet law library.

The House is divided into two different buildings, English House and Kings Court, connected by a courtyard. The House has its own dining hall and constantly holds events like study breaks, which often include a lot of free food. The typical room size in KCHECH is significantly larger than in the other dorms, but the rooms do lack air-conditioning.

Stouffer College House and Du Bois College House

Both of these college houses are a little bit smaller than most houses and are four-year communities. Stouffer is located right next to the Quad on Spruce, and is split into two buildings: Stouffer Hall and Mayer Hall. Mayer has apartment style rooms while Stouffer Hall has dormitories. Du Bois is near the high rise fields close to Walnut. It has dorm-style rooms and houses about 160 students.

Gregory College House

Gregory is located past the high rises on the corner of 40th and Spruce streets. The house holds students from all four years, but half of the residents are first-year students. Rooms vary between quads, triples, doubles and singles, and the facilities also include a yoga room, a film screening room and a greenhouse.

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