Darnall Hall is a freshman residence hall located on the north side of campus with 336 double occupancy rooms spanning 120,718 square feet. Designed by Thomas H. Locraft, the building opened in the spring of 1965 as part of a University effort to alleviate housing overcrowding on campus. Darnall opened as an all women’s residence hall and was named after Eleanor Darnall Carroll, the mother of Father John Carroll who founded Georgetown College in 1789. Father Carroll went on to become America’s first bishop and Archbishop for the Diocese and later Archdiocese of Baltimore.1
Cafeteria and Facilities
The building’s first floor opened with a cafeteria for Darnall students and employees of the Medical Center. In the Spring of 2005, the University closed Darnall Cafeteria, shortly after the new Leo J. O’Donovan Dining Hall opened. The cafeteria space remained vacant until 2008, when Epicurean and Co. took over, transforming the space into a 24 hour restaurant and cocktail lounge.2
Darnall has also housed the Affirmative Action Office, the Building Administrator, Counseling and Psychiatric Services, Building Maintenance Group, Patient information, Student Location Information Service, the Maine Room, a Page Operator, Voice Communications, and the GOCard Office.
Facility Challenges and Renovations
Since opening, Darnall has endured its fair share of facility disruptions. In the fall 1971, water backed up the building sewage system pouring 18 inches of water into the basement room with the building’s generator. In the rush to evacuate the building, cafeteria workers failed to turn off the stoves causing a grease fire. 3Darnall closed in 1995 for renovations, reopening for continued use as a residence hall during Spring 1996. In the summer of 2010, construction crews ripped up the building's carpeting and removed the tiles and mastic below as part of an asbestos abatement project. 4Even with the new carpet and fresh paint, Darnall notoriously landed at number three on the HuffPost’s list of "The 10 Worst Dorms in America" a year later.5
Despite these facility disruptions, Darnall continues to maintain a reputation for the closest-knit community among the four freshman dorms.
- 1Francis X. Ballman, "Darnall Hall," Building Outlines Campus Buildings, 1789 – 1995, Father Lawrence Hurley Memorial Edition, Francis X. Ballmann and the Division of Facilities, 1995, p. 18.
- 2Elizabeth Blazey. “Epicurean Rolls Out Red Carpet for Opening.” The Hoya. 25 April 2008.
- 3Tom Sutula.“Hoyettes Turn Nomadic, Flood, Fire Assail Dorm.” The Hoya. 23 Sept. 1971, p.1.
- 4Stephanie LaGumina. “Darnall: New Carpets In, Asbestos Out.” The Hoya. 27 Aug. 2010.
- 5“The 10 Worst Dorms In America: DormSplash List.” HuffPost. 25 May 2011.
