Clemson House

Rise and Fall

Clemson House officially opened on November 1, 1950.

Clemson had a surge of enrollment after WWII thanks to the GI Bill but did not have the housing and accommodations to keep up. This lead to the Board of Trustees creating the Clemson Housing Committee to figure out what to do.

Construction began in 1949 on "Hotel Hill" across from Bowman field. It is noted to be one of the first modern style building on campus and many believe it helped start a shift in Clemsons own architecture program.

All the rooms included bathrooms, had a kitchen area and the suites/apartments had a living room and kitchen. Single rooms cost $3 to $5 per night and double rooms were $5 to $8 per night.

Originally meant to be an apartment space it wasn't until the late 1960's and early 1970's when another boom of enrollment caused the University to change the building from hotel to permanent dormitory for incoming students. In the Fall of 1974, 240 women moved into the building to alleviate the housing shortage.

After 1982 the dormitory became co-ed and served as one for over 42 years. With the opening of the Core Campus housing and dining in 2016, the decision was made to end Clemson House's life as a student dormitory. The last students moved out of Clemson House in May 2016. They covered a downstairs wall with goodbye messages.

In July 2017 the Clemson House sign was removed to be placed in storage and the building was destroyed through a series of controlled explosion to make room for a new College of Business in its place on December 3 of 2017 at 8:30 am.

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