Date of Construction: 1913-1914
Architect/Designer: Laussat R. Rogers
Current Function: Dormitory
One of the first two buildings on the women's campus, Warner Hall (first known as Residence Hall) was completed during the summer of 1914, just in time for the opening of the Women's College of Delaware that fall. Built before any plan for a Campus Mall, and never re-oriented to face the mall, Warner Hall faces South College Avenue. Designed by Laussat R. Rogers, it is a two-and-one-half-story, eleven-bay, symmetrical, brick building with a raised, stone basement and hipped, slate roof. Seven hipped dormers punctuate the roof, and a centered, two-story porch with a segmental-arched pediment marks the main entry. Warner Hall bears the name of Emalea Pusey Warner. Unable to attend college herself, Warner became the leading advocate for the creation of an affiliated women's college at Delaware College. As chair of the State Federation of Women's Clubs in 1913, she coordinated efforts to push the Women's College bill through the Delaware General Assembly. After the founding of the Women's College, she served on the committee to select the new dean and traveled around the state to recruit students for the first year. In 1928, she became the first woman selected for the Delaware College Board of Trustees. Warner Hall originally housed both the faculty and the students of the Women's College. The kitchen and dining room were located in the basement until the construction of Kent Dining Hall in 1925. Under Dean Winifred Robinson, the students at the Women's College lived according to strict regulations. They could only attend parties on Friday and Saturday nights and could only have male visitors on Friday evenings. They also had to give three days notice of a date and pass inspection by the dean before leaving for dances. Warner Hall continues to house female students.
