Houston Hall (University of Pennsylvania)
Houston Hall is the student union of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Completed in 1896, it was the first student union built on an American college campus.
Houston Hall in 2005 at right, as viewed from Perelman Quadrangle
Houston Hall, on an 1898 postcard.
Houston Hall, on an 1898 postcard.
Photograph of Houston Hall taken in 1896, the year it opened.
A student center is a type of building found on university and some high school campuses. In the United States, such a building may also be called a student union, student commons, or union. The term "student union" refers most often in the United States to a building, while in other nations a "students' union" is the student government. Nevertheless, the Association of College Unions International has several hundred campus organizational members in the US; there is no sharp dichotomy in interpretation of union in this context. The US usage in reference to a location is simply a shortened form of student union building.
Student Activity Center on the campus of Texas Tech University
Photograph of Houston Hall of University of Pennsylvania taken in 1896, the year the student center was opened.
The first student activity center in America was Houston Hall at the University of Pennsylvania
The William Pitt Union as the Schenley Hotel
