Gianna Hayes
Chief News Editor
Compton Hall continues to undergo renovations, with plans to be in use for the 2027-28 academic year. Beau Mastrine, senior director for facilities management and development, led the Voice on a tour on Friday, April 24, to highlight the progress of the project.
Funded by a $5 million gift from trustee Doon Foster ’80 and her husband John Foster, Compton Hall began renovations during the summer of 2025 and has remained under construction for the duration of this academic year.
The residence hall will house first-year students in a variety of single, double, triple and quadruple rooms. The quad rooms will be located on each floor where the wings come together, and will have built-in, half-wall dividers to provide each resident with a separated space. Each wing of each floor will feature pod-style bathrooms, with individual toilets, showers and sinks and one common sink.
The main entrance will retain the Otelia Compton Hall nameplate and transom windows above the doors. “The whole goal, especially on the exterior, was to maintain as much of the originality as we could,” Mastrine said. In front of the entrance, the green space and sidewalk path will be restored to the pre-construction layout. The patio in the back of the building will also be maintained.
On the first floor, the main entrance will open to a common area with an adjacent sacred space. The sacred space will serve the same purpose as Compton’s original sacred space, and will feature a footbath, seating and other meditative or spiritual amenities. A new elevator is also being built, with a lobby on the first floor near the entrance. The old freight elevators will no longer be in use, and will instead serve as mechanical storage space.
A ramp will be built on the first floor to account for the elevation differences on the land and to remain ADA compliant.
As the wings come together on each floor, a lounge area with soft seating will be available. Some carpeting throughout Compton will also be implemented, with a walk-off mat at the entrance of each room and carpeting throughout the common lounges. Elsewhere, the woodwork and terrazzo floor will be restored.
“We’re trying to really salvage and accentuate,” Mastrine said of the restoration choices.
The windows have already been replaced, and will be able to be partially opened, similar to windows in Douglass Hall. Some rooms will have their original bay windows or windows with an arch atop them to maintain the original roof pitch. Dormer windows will be added to the fourth-floor roofing.
“Each room has its own little unique twist,” Mastrine noted.
The fourth floor, which was previously used as an attic storage space, will be converted into residential rooms and mechanical storage space. One of the stairways did not previously extend to the attic, and will have to be built up. Additionally, construction workers will have to break through the fourth floor for elevator access.
The basement will have a kitchen space in the south wing area and will be furnished with hard and soft seating. The fireplace in the basement will be maintained but will not be functional. Down the hall will be restrooms, storage space and laundry amenities. The area where the wings meet in the basement will be called “The Studio,” which will be set up for RA programming or other recreational activities. Across from the studio will be another storefront space with tables and chairs for studying and other quiet activities. “All of these spaces down here are intended to be flexible,” Mastrine said.
In the northeast wing of the basement, the Q space will be revitalized while remaining faithful to the original layout and concept as a space for LGBTQIA+ students to socialize and hold events.
