
The campus plan laid out by Vaux and Olmsted (Calvert Vaux had relatives living across the street from the campus) established the campus hierarchy. Like a Victorian matron followed by her children, Taylor Hall is in front and it preceded a row of smaller buildings—the dormitory (Merion), a small gymnasium, and a power plant (the last two demolished). Merion Hall was modeled on the college house system of Smith College and was the first of the buildings named for Welsh counties. Its simpler massing and domestic Queen Anne detail placed the residential component of academia in striking contrast with contemporary campus planning that now sells lifestyle first with academics more subtly expressed.