#ThrowbackThursday: Touching Up Witherspoon

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Summers on campus are filled with the sounds of construction and renovation. This year’s projects include the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the Arts and Transit Neighborhood, a major refurbishment at 20 Washington Road (the former Frick chemistry lab), and numerous other improvements around campus. In 1970, Witherspoon Hall was on the list of buildings in need of work. But PAW noted that the 93-year-old dorm might be on track for demolition: “State fire laws have forced the closing of the top three floors, and the [University] trustees have concluded that the cost of renovation ($2 million) just isn’t worth it.” Fortunately, the report of Witherspoon’s demise was premature. Residents and alumni started a “Save ’Spoon” campaign in 1970, and in 1975, a series of renovations reconfigured the interior and added new stairwells to bring all floors up to code. For the record As Emily Trost ’13 notes, the photo identified as Witherspoon in the PAW Archives appears to show Dod Hall, another 19th-century addition to the Princeton campus, completed in 1890.