Background
Alumni House is a collection of four two-story brick townhouses containing Georgetown’s Alumni Association and the Alumni Records Department. The main entrance is located at 3604 O Street NW, with additional addresses at 1324, 1326, and 1328 36th Street NW. The townhouses were built around 1870, but were not purchased by the University until 1930.1 Renters occupied the buildings until 1951, when the Alumni Association moved in. Prior to this, the Association had been located on the ground floor of White-Gravenor and later Healy Hall.2 Including all four townhouses, Alumni House measures 7,197 square feet and was built at a cost of $14,500.3
The Alumni House is used for many important events for the greater Georgetown community. The House is the site of faculty lectures, meetings, celebrations, reunions, career network programs, and weekly events for alumni to gather.
Acquisition by Alumni Association
In 1951, the Alumni House was located in a two-room suite in Healy Hall. When the University reorganized its Treasury Offices, it decided to move them to this two-room suite. The Association thus moved to Alumni House, which at the time was described as an "old, dingy, dilapidated" building that "had never known electricity, gas, or central heating." The Association spent six months renovating it at a cost of $16,000, contributed by the University. The Association moved in on July 10, 1951. In October of that year, a basement was excavated to add two rooms to the building, which would house mailing equipment. Another property directly to the east of the original building was later renovated at a cost of $18,000, again contributed by the University. The Association later sought to solicit donations so that it could repay the $34,000 given by the University.
After completing renovations in October 2005, the Alumni House was renamed the Robert (F 1948) and Bernice Wagner Alumni House in recognition of their gift to complete the renovation.
- 1Father Lawrence Hurley Memorial Edition, Francis X. Ballman and the Division of Facilities, 1995, p.1.
- 2John J. Turnmore, "The Alumni Association...Its History," Georgetown University Alumni Association Magazine, March 1954, Vol. 6, No. 6, p.12. http://hdl.handle.net/10822/709108
- 3Building Outlines Campus Buidlings, 1789-1995, Father Lawrence Hurley Memorial Edition, Francis X. Ballman and the Division of Facilities, 1995, p.1.
