It is hard to miss the green construction fencing that has lined the block of College Street closest to the Weitz Center for Creativity for the past nine months. Behind the curtain, construction crews have been working intensively on a multi-pronged renovation that encompasses four prominent houses: Parish, Page, Douglas and Rice.
For current Carls, it may seem that construction is a never-ending backdrop to campus life. Those of us approaching the twilight of our Carleton careers remember Lilac Hill and Union Street townhouses going up in our freshman and sophomore years. Dacie Moses reopened to students in the Fall Term of 2024 after an intensive reconstruction, and this fall, campus welcomed the new Class of 1974 Center that houses Student Health and Counseling (SHAC).
Though construction has cropped up on all parts of campus, all of this activity is contained within one multi-phase undertaking — the Carleton Student Life and Housing Plan — which broke ground in 2023.
The college is currently working on Phase III of the housing plan, due for completion in September 2026. The rehabilitation of Page, Parish, Rice and Douglas houses is the most visible aspect of this plan. The renovation of former SHAC facilities in the first floor of Davis Hall for student housing was also included in Phase III, as is the installation of a new geothermal system in the empty lot to the east of Parish House.
Together, these projects add 27 new beds and expand on Carleton’s goals for energy efficiency.
The four houses under renovation all began as single-family homes. They are among the oldest buildings in use for student housing — the most senior, Page, is around 140 years old (in comparison, Burton, the oldest dorm, is 110 years old). While the structures were overdue for modernization, they remain dependable, according to Linda Weingarten, Associate Vice President of Facilities and Capital Planning.
“The structural parts of these houses have held up well, and we have not had major challenges similar to what we experienced with Dacie’s,” she said, referring to the recent restoration of Dacie Moses, which faced a severe and unexpected setback after the foundation failed during the construction process.
None of the homes are quite as old as Dacie Moses House, but they all have long histories.
Parish House began life in 1911 as the Hill family mansion and later belonged to the local Methodist church, hence the name Parish. Carleton acquired the church’s property in 1965. In more recent years, Parish has served as a draw-in space and has also housed Carleton’s Language Associates.
Page House was built in the 1880s and acquired by Carleton around 1930 and converted into a duplex and rented out to faculty members. Page started housing students in the late 1990s. Most recently, it housed the Jewish and Muslim interest houses.
Just to the south of Parish is Douglas House. As modest as Parish is enormous, it was built in 1952 as a parsonage for the same Methodist Church that previously owned Parish. Carleton purchased Douglas with Parish in the 1960s, and it has most recently been home to Fellowship in the Son’s Hope (FISH) house, Carleton’s Christian interest house.
Rice House dates back to 1912. It came into Carleton ownership in 1943 and was most recently home to a substance-free draw-in community.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, the homes under renovation have received individual attention from the project designers. Page is receiving a substantial addition along Third St., which “provid[es] the opportunity to improve the layout and expand some of the common living spaces on both sides of the house,” said Weingarten. Alarge porch on the side facing Third St. will be a new addition.
Rice, Douglas and Parish are not being expanded, but the interiors are receiving full renovations. Parish will gain seven beds, for a total of 41, while both Rice and Douglas will lose a handful, giving new totals of 14 and six, respectively. All houses will be ADA-compliant and will contain at least one accessible bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor.
In terms of sustainability, Phase III follows the lead of previous phases. The strategic reuse of the structures concerned has significantly minimized the demolition waste generated by this phase. The campus geothermal system is also being expanded and will directly fuel the houses currently under renovation with both heat and air conditioning.
When complete, these renovations will impact the residential experiences of generations of Carls to come. Weingarten expects the interior renovation work to last 15-25 years, while the Page addition is anticipated to extend the house’s lifespan by another 50-100 years.
The project was informed by student feedback collected during a 2021 housing study. Both Weingarten and Andrea Robinson, who serves as Director of Residential Life, noted meetings that the architects held with students.
Preliminary designs were reviewed by the Campus Design Advisory Committee, which consists primarily of faculty and staff but includes two student representatives appointed by the Carleton Student Alliance. Weingarten reiterated the project’s concern for accessibility and sustainability, noting that these are all priorities the student community has historically called for.
Yet the degree of active outreach by the project designers remains unclear, especially when it comes to the specific needs of the three religious interest houses impacted by the project.
“If they did [take student input], I never heard about it and neither did the other Jewish leaders,” says Andrew Rose ’27. Rose, who plans to live in “Page East” (the unit home to the Jewish interest house) next year. Rose is excited about the new renovations, particularly the addition of the accessible bedroom and bathroom, which, he says, are important gestures towards inclusivity.
However, Rose expressed concerns about the flexibility of the ground floor spaces. The house hosts weekly Shabbat services which draw many visitors in addition to the house’s residents. In the past, a secondary living room has eased congestion; this will no longer be an option as that room has been consolidated into the new kitchen. “It may put a different kind of stress [on the residents],” he says.
Adam Paul ’27, a current resident of the Muslim interest house, was similarly doubtful about the degree to which student input was considered. If the interest house communities had been consulted, he says, “Page would have looked different and more suitable for the [Muslim and Jewish] religious spaces.”
All three religious interest houses affected by this project will return to their old spaces once the renovations are complete. “There is something really defined about Page [East] being a Jewish space,” notes Rose, who is looking forward to re-establishing that.
Yet the temporary accommodations in Eugster, which is the location of Carleton’s Jewish interest house, had their advantages. Placing all three religious communities under the same roof was conducive for community building, said Rose, and “it will be kind of sad losing the houses all together.”
Furthermore, as beds are assigned for next year, the houses are struggling with more interest than they can accommodate. This is particularly true for FISH, which only offers six beds in Douglas (down from eight pre-renovation).
According to Paul, the Muslim interest house has received more applications than any other interest house in the last few years. Because the unit in Page is strictly single-gender, many applicants are automatically ineligible for any given year. Paul believes it is high time for the college to provide units for both men and women simultaneously, and is disappointed that this was not considered during the renovation.
Robinson says that Residential Life will monitor the efficacy of the project, stating, “As we reach the end of a multi-year housing plan we will continue to evaluate the total number of beds on campus and how to best use the spaces to serve the student population.”