Wilmer-Davis Hall History

Completed in 1937, Wilmer Davis Residence Hall was originally known as “New Women’s Dormitory.” The U-shape design mimics the shapes of Waller Hall and Stimson Hall. This building was named for regents A.W. Davis and F.J. Wilmer. Wilmer houses 95 students and Davis 100. The Wilmer-Davis residential complex was built at the same time as "twin" residence halls for women under the Self-Amortization Plan (see Community Hall).

The interior open space is oriented to the south and maintains a pleasantly warm, micro-climate during the colder months of the year. The structure sits impressively on its site at the corner of Linden Avenue, Thatuna Road and Campus Avenue, anchoring the northeast and northwest sides of the women's residential complex. This cluster of buildings is tied together with the same classical and Georgian Revival architectural themes composed of brick, wood and courses of ashlar. In addition, Wilmer-Davis, by its sheer building mass and architectural detailing, reinforces McCroskey Hall, which is located to the south across Campus Avenue, and identifies an important entry point into the academic campus core.

Previously on this sight before Wilmer Davis’s construction was Senior Hall. Senior Hall was completed in 1919. It was a YMCA building located on the “alumni fields” which were tennis courts until 1918. This building contained a 500-person auditorium, billiard room and a “moving picture machine.” It was converted into a dorm in 1921 and housed 62 men and then a women’s dorm in 1922. It was known as the Stevens Hall Annex, and later just as the Annex, until it was torn down in the mid-1930s.

Today, Wilmer-Davis still serves as an all-female hall as well as a dining facility that is located in its basement for the hill halls.

<gallery> image: wilmerdavis.jpg|Wilmer-Davis Hall. Photo courtesy of WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. image: wilmerdavis1937.jpg|Wilmer-Davis Hall in 1937. Photo courtesy of WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. image: wilmerdavis1939.jpg|Wilmer-Davis in 1939. Photo courtesy of WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. image: seniorhall.jpg|Senior Hall, formerly located where Wilmer-Davis stands today. Photo courtesy of WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections.