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Breen-Phillips Hall

{{Short description|American women's university hall of residence}}

{{Infobox residential college

|name = Breen-Phillips Hall

|image =

|shield = Arms of Breen-Phillips.svg

|motto = Land of the Free, Home of the Babes

|named_for = William P. Breen and Frank B. Phillips

|established = 1939

|rector = Angie Hollar

|sex = Female

|quad = North

|undergrads = 200

|postgrads =

|chapel = Saint Francis of Assisi

|colors = Blue and pink {{color box|blue}} {{color box|#FF00FF}}

|mascot = Babes

|charities = American Diabetes Association, Meals on Wheels, Hoops for Hope

|events = Bathrobe Breakfast, Meal Auction

|url = [https://sites.google.com/a/nd.edu/breen-phillips-hall/ Site]

|university=University of Notre Dame|architect=Maginnis and Walsh|postgraduates=2|type=Residence Hall|architectural_style=Vernacular collegiate Gothic|nickname=B-P}}

Breen-Phillips hall is one of the 32 Residence Halls on the campus of the University of Notre Dame and one of the 14 female dorms. Breen-Phillips is on North Quad, between Farley Hall, Geddes Hall, and the Hesburgh Library. Established in 1939, it hosts 200 students.

History

In the 1930s, enrollment at Notre Dame was increasing by about one hundred a year, but on campus space was limited.{{cite news|date=October 29, 1939|title=Notre Dame Tops Enrollment Mark|page=21|work=The Indianapolis Star}} This both forced students to live far from campus and was a loss of potential room and board income for the university.{{cite book|last=Blantz|first=Thomas E.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1182853710|title=The University of Notre Dame : a history|date=2020|isbn=978-0-268-10824-3|location=[Notre Dame, Indiana]|pages=316|oclc=1182853710}} President John Francis O'Hara decided to build three new residence halls to remedy this problem: Cavanaugh in 1936, Zahm in 1937, and Breen-Phillips in 1939.{{cite news|date=September 3, 1939|title=New N.D. Hall Ready Sept. 12|page=5|work=South Bend Tribune}}{{cite news|date=March 30, 1939|title=Social and Personal|page=3|work=Garrett Clipper}}{{cite news|date=April 29, 1939|title=Notre Dame Starts $300,000 Dormitory|page=12|work=The Tablet (Brooklyn)}} These three dormitories were intended to comprise a new quadrandrangle, then named Freshman Quad, presently North Quad. In order to accommodate these buildings it was necessary to demolish Freshman and Sophomore Halls (which were low quality temporary structures) and the east wing of St. Edward's Hall. Breen-Phillips was built on the east end of the Fieldhouse and formed the eastern edge of the new North Quad. Groundbreaking took place on March 27, construction started May 5, and the cornerstone was laid May 5, 1939 and blessed by president O'Hara and superior general James A Burns.{{cite news|date=March 26, 1939|title=Ground Cleared for New Hall at Notre Dame|page=15|work=South Bend Tribune}}{{cite news|date=May 6, 1939|title=Cornerstone of New N.D. Dormitory is Blessed|page=2|work=South Bend Tribune}}{{cite news|date=May 12, 1939|title=Lay Cornerstone|volume=72|work=Scholastic|issue=25|url=http://archives.nd.edu/Scholastic/VOL_0072/VOL_0072_ISSUE_0025.pdf}} It was built in collegiate Gothic style (although less elaborate and ornate than Alumni and Dillon) by Boston-based architects Maginnis and Walsh, who worked on several other projects at Notre Dame.{{cite news|date=March 27, 1939|title=Build New N.D. Dormitory|page=16|work=The Times of Northwest Indiana}} It was built in 165 days, and it was ready to host 185 freshmen on September 12 and its first rector was Rev. George Holderith, CSC.{{cite news|date=September 22, 1939|title=Freshmen Occupy New Breen-Phillips Doubles|volume=73|work=Scholastic|issue=1|url=http://archives.nd.edu/Scholastic/VOL_0073/VOL_0073_ISSUE_0001.pdf}}{{cite news|date=September 14, 1939|title=Breen-Phillips Hall Home for Hundreds of N.D. Freshmen|page=17|work=South Bend Tribune}}File:Breen-Phillips Hall.jpgConstruction cost more than $300,000 and was donated by brothers-in-law benefactors attorney William P. Breen (class of 1877) and banker Frank B. Phillips (class of 1880), both from Fort Wayne.{{cite book|last=Vonada, Damaine.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38870733|title=Notre Dame : the official campus guide|date=1998|publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|isbn=0-268-01486-8|location=Notre Dame, Ind.|oclc=38870733}}{{cite web|title=Irish Legends: Campus Tour III|url=https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/Article/Irish-Legends-Campus-Tour-III-104421525/|access-date=2021-03-21|website=247Sports|language=en-US|df=mdy-all}}{{cite news|date=November 12, 1939|title=Important to the building trades|page=15|work=South Bend Tribune}} The university received $400,000 as a beneficiary of their estates after their deaths. Breen, who was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1879, was member of the firm Breen & Morris, member of the American Bar Association and of the Indiana Bar Association, of which he was president 1903–1904.{{cite news|date=March 10, 1932|title=New Altars put in N.D. Chapels|work=South Bend Tribune}} He was also director of the Notre Dame Board of Trustees, president of the Alumni Association in 1908–1909, and benefactor of the Breen Medal for oratory.{{cite web|title=Notre Dame Alumnus|url=http://www.archives.nd.edu/Alumnus/VOL_0006/VOL_0006_ISSUE_0005.pdf|access-date=February 23, 2017}}

Originally, it was a Freshman hall and it hosted the athletics department on its first floor, including the football coach Frank Leahy's office, and the football ticket office.{{cite web|last=Fortuna|first=Matt|title=Seven life lessons from an afternoon with Roger Valdiserri, a Notre Dame institution|url=https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1486013/2022/06/03/roger-valdiserri-notre-dame-sports-information-life-lessons-football/ |df=mdy-all|access-date=2021-01-27|website=The Athletic}}{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Red|date=November 11, 1949|title=Views of Sport|page=20|work=Lancaster New Era}} Moose Kraus' office was also hosted in Breen-Phillips.{{cite news|last=Doyle|first=Joe|date=April 11, 1980|title=They're honoring Moose, the man and legend|page=41|work=South Bend Tribune}} The athletic office moved in late August 1939. It was previously housed in the Main Building.{{cite news|date=April 29, 1939|title=N.D. tears down old infirmary|page=12|work=South Bend Tribune}} The football office was moved from Breen-Phillips to Rockne Memorial in Match 1959.{{cite news|last=Doyle|first=Joe|date=March 4, 1959|title=There'll be some other moving|page=33|work=South Bend Tribune}}

It hosted naval officers during World War II when the university was used by the Navy for training purposes.{{cite web|last=BAKER|first=KENT|title=Notre Dame says thanks to Navy|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2005-11-12-0511120089-story.html|access-date=2021-01-27 |df=mdy-all|website=baltimoresun.com|language=en-US}} During the 1960s the dorm was known as Stalag B-P, a riff on the 1953 film Stalag 17 about a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, in reference to the strictness of the rector of the time, who was also of German descent.{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Breen-Phillips hall portrait {{!}} Stories {{!}} Notre Dame Magazine {{!}} University of Notre Dame|url=https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/breen-phillips-hall-portrait/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-15 |df=mdy-all|website=Notre Dame Magazine|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021111659/https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/breen-phillips-hall-portrait/ |archive-date=2020-10-21 }} In 1963, the residents of the second floor of Breen-Phillips embarked in an in-hall marathon, and for 2 days straight walked up and down their hall while tiddlywinking for a total distance of 50 miles.{{cite news|date=February 23, 1963|title=Tiddly-Winking, and with 'Vigah'|page=7|work=The Des Moines Register}}{{cite news|date=February 23, 1963|title=Record Claimed|page=1|work=The Morning Call}}{{cite news|date=February 24, 1963|title=Tiddlywinkers|work=The Times of Northwest Indiana}}

It was converted in a female dorm in 1973.{{cite web|url=http://housing.nd.edu/undergraduate/residence-halls/breen-phillips-hall/ |title=Breen-Phillips Hall |publisher=Office of Housing, University of Notre Dame |access-date=December 23, 2015}}{{cite news|last=Sulok|first=Nancy|date=March 7, 1973|title=Notre Dame May Face Housing Shortage Because of Coeds|page=20|work=South Bend Tribune}} Renovations for the transition to a woman's dorm included increased storage facilities and more washing and drying equipment.{{cite news|date=July 24, 1973|title=Notre Dame Enrollment Estimated To Be 8,750|page=11|work=The Herald, Jasper Indiana}}{{cite news|date=August 16, 1973|title=Coed enrollment with double at Notre Dame|page=9|work=Daily Journal (Franklin, Indiana)}}{{cite news|last=August 16, 1973|title=Notre Dame to Enroll Record|page=49|work=The Republic (Columbus, Indiana)}} The addition of BP as a women's dorm, together with Farley Hall, was a major step towards coeducation, increasing the female population from 360 to 775. It underwent major renovations.{{cite news|date=July 19, 2009|title=Breen-Phillips & Zahm Hall renovations|page=D3|work=South Bend Tribune}} In 2014 it celebrated its 75th anniversary with a series of events.{{cite web|title=75th Anniversary – Breen-Phillips Hall|url=https://sites.google.com/a/nd.edu/breen-phillips-hall/75th-anniversary|access-date=2021-03-15 |df=mdy-all|website=sites.google.com}}

The Sister Mary Catherine McNamara served as rector from 2012 to 2018, and she held Bachelor of Science from St. John College of Cleveland and a Master of Science in Education from the University of Akron.{{cite web|last=Dame|first=Marketing Communications: Web // University of Notre|title=In Memoriam: Breen-Phillips rector Sister Mary Catherine McNamara|url=https://ndworks.nd.edu/news/in-memoriam-breen-phillips-rector-sister-mary-catherine-mcnamara/|access-date=2021-03-14 |df=mdy-all|website=NDWorks|language=en}} The current rector is Angie Hollar, a Mishawaka native who earned a bachelor's degree in Social Work from Saint Mary's College in 2011 and then entered the Advanced Standing Master of Social Work program at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a Master of Divinity degree at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University.{{cite web|last=Dame|first=Marketing Communications: Web // University of Notre|title=Breen-Phillips Hall // Residential Life // University of Notre Dame|url=https://residentiallife.nd.edu/undergraduate/halls/breen-phillips-hall/|access-date=2021-03-14 |df=mdy-all|website=Residential Life|language=en}}

=Description=

The hall is a four-story brick building built in vernacular collegiate Gothic architecture, but without elaborate decorations found in other neo-Gothic buildings such as Alumni or Morrissey. The basement features a 24-Hour Hang-Out Space (the Pen), a Kitchen, a Study room, a Pink 'cafe' room (mainly used for studying and meetings). a Workout room (treadmills, ellipticals, weights, etc.), a Laundry room, and a Movie room (movies, TV, & books!). The chapel, dedicated to Francis of Assisi, is located on the 1st floor.{{cite web|title=More Info – Breen-Phillips Hall|url=https://sites.google.com/a/nd.edu/breen-phillips-hall/more-info|access-date=2021-03-15 |df=mdy-all|website=sites.google.com}} It has entrances on each side of the building, facing Farley Hall, North Quad, and the Fieldhouse mall. It is staffed by one rector, two assistant rectors, and six resident assistants, one for each of the six sections.

Notable residents

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://sites.google.com/a/nd.edu/breen-phillips-hall/ Official site]
  • [https://tour.nd.edu/locations/breen-phillips-hall/ Campus tour]
  • [https://residentiallife.nd.edu/undergraduate/halls/breen-phillips-hall/ Residential life]

{{University of Notre Dame}}

{{Coord|41|42|10|N|86|14|10|W|region:US-IN|display=title}}

Category:University of Notre Dame residence halls

Category:1939 establishments in Indiana

Category:University and college buildings completed in 1939