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Delta Tau Delta Founders House

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c. 1850. 1970s, Grigg, Wood and Browne. 211 Main St.
  • (West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

This common-bond brick building is typical of several multipurpose structures dating from Bethany's early years. In addition to housing the owners, it also provided student lodging. The house is vernacular in form and detail and contains a five-bay main block and a large rear ell. Its two stories rise above a limestone basement, whose rubble walls are above grade in the rear because of the slope of the lot. Plain wooden lintels, flush with the walls, cap the windows, while a one-bay porch with chamfered columns shelters the front door. A two-story porch to the rear that serves as an exterior connector between the main block and the ell contains an open stairway to the second floor.

Because the first meeting of the group that evolved into the Delta Tau Delta fraternity was held in one of the student's rooms in 1858, the national organization sponsored a restoration in the 1970s. The house now serves as an information center.

Writing Credits

Author: 
S. Allen Chambers Jr.
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Data

What's Nearby

Bethany Meeting House
Pendleton Heights
Bethany Memorial Christian Church
Old Main, Bethany College
Alexander Campbell Study

Citation

S. Allen Chambers Jr., "Delta Tau Delta Founders House", [Bethany, West Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WV-01-BR4.

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