Crawford Hall was a co-ed student residence hall on the Foggy Bottom campus at 2119 H St. that hosted 158 freshman students. Crawford Hall's structure was demolished, but its facade was incorporated into District House.
Crawford Hall
Location[]
Crawford Hall, now integrated in the larger District House complex, was centrally located on the Foggy Bottom campus, making it one of the most conveniently located residence halls on campus, especially for freshmen. It was next to the Marvin Center, across from Kogan Plaza and Midcampus and down the street from Lisner Auditorium, Gelman Library, and Starbucks, as well as University Yard. It was about 5 minutes from the Foggy Bottom Metro and about 10 minutes from any part of campus.
Building and Room Structure[]
Crawford Hall consisted of 8 floors and one basement of 1 hallway per floor. Each hall had 10 rooms, including 7 side doubles, 1 north end double, 1 south end double, and 1 south quad (two doubles in a suite configuration). Rooms were single-sex; floors are co-ed.
Breakdown of available room types:
- 11% of students will live in singles
- 80% of students will live in doubles
- 9% of students will live in quad suites
Amenities and Features[]
- Piano lounge/lobby area with WIFI
- Plasma TV in basement with cable and DVD player with WIFI
- Study area in basement with one table
- Laundry room in basement with six washers and six dryers
- Kitchen in basement with stove, oven, large refrigerator, microwave, and dining table
- Room specific: Study area with desk and chairs, two large closets (one walk-in), private bathroom, twin long beds, microfridge,microwave, cable tv capabilities, individual high speed internet, and individual phone line.
History[]
Crawford Hall was built in 1926.
Neil Thomas Proto, a former resident director in Crawford to whom the basement area is dedicated, often spoke of a ghoul that resided in the ceiling panels above the third floor. The ghoul is named Neil, after Mr. Proto, and can sometimes be seen wandering the hallways in the dead of night. The ghoul is said to haunt the third floor and sometimes drives students away; for example, in the 2011-2012 academic year, the third floor lost five students between November and April. Two of these students moved to a different floor, another moved to a different building, and the other two left the university entirely.
Crawford Hall will be partially demolished after the 2012-2013 academic year, along with Schenley Hall and The West End, to make space for the new District House, an upper class residence hall that will cost the university $100 million.
Photographs of the unveiling of the Neil Thomas Proto Room in 1972 can be found at www.ToAHighCourt,com (photo journal). Mr. Proto is alive and well, roaming law and university settings now in the Nation's capital, preferring to be thought of as a guiding spirit but pleased to be remembered even as a wandering ghoul and hoping that someone will relocate the Neil T. Proto room into the new building or donate the plaque to the Gelman Library, which already houses "The Neil Thomas Proto Papers."
There are stories to be told of a different era -
House Staff[]
There are three House Proctors that live in Crawford Hall and one community director is assigned to the house.
House Theme[]
(The following is taken from http://living.gwu.edu/halls/firstyear/Crawford/)
Crawford Hall is designated as the Business and Entrepreneurship House but houses freshmen of all majors. The Business and Entrepreneurship House at Crawford allows students with interest in the corporate world and entrepreneurship to explore the challenges of the global business environment. Because business skills are valued throughout society and are central to students’ professional success, the Business and Entrepreneurship House challenges students to begin shaping their future in business now.
Security[]
Pros[]
- Location is the biggest advantage of being in Crawford. As noted above, it is centrally located on the Foggy Bottom campus and next to the Marvin Center and the J Street food court, making it easily accessible for freshmen to use their mandatory spending.
- Crawford is usually seen as being a residence hall with a good mix of partying and studying atmosphere. It's not crazy like Thurston, but not totally quiet like a residence hall on the Vern, for example.
Cons[]
- Being one of the oldest dorms on campus, Crawford Hall does have its share of dirty corners and cobwebs. The halls and rooms are re-painted every year, resulting in painted-shut windows and layers of moldy paint.
- There is only one elevator that can comfortably fix a max of 5 people.
Other Residence Halls Like This One[]
Other facts[]
- The Crawford Hall vending machines in the basement are among the few vending machines on campus that sell ginger ale (though it is available at the nearby Whole Foods).