Graphic by Betty Smart ‘26.
By Betty Smart ’26
Staff Writer
How well do we all know the residence halls on campus? There are 18 dorms at Mount Holyoke College. All of them were gradually added to campus following the fire that burned down the original Mount Holyoke seminary building in 1896. A colorful bunch, the dorms each have distinct quirks and drawbacks. Your personal taste may affect how you see each one, but they all have something to offer that truly makes a resident’s experience unique. This past week, I visited Rockefeller Hall, Mandelle Hall and Dickinson Hall, respectively two party dorms and the black sheep of Mount Holyoke’s student residences.
Rockefeller Hall
Built in 1924, stretching between Mary Woolley and Skinner Greens, Rockefeller Hall is a long brownstone building that is split into two halves, North and South. It has the second-largest capacity of any dorm, and resembles a large mansion. The upper floors both have tan linoleum floors, wide hallways and mottled yellow-and-white walls with blue trim.
At each end of these floors are alcoves with their own views of Mount Holyoke’s greens, as well as a kitchenette and trash room. South Rockefeller does not have an elevator, and North Rockefeller’s only one is pretty small. A first-year resident I spoke to found fault with this, describing the elevator as “super old, and sometimes it breaks, so it’s kind of inconvenient. If someone breaks their leg or something, then they’re kind of screwed.” The two sides of the building are separated by a curtain in the middle of every hall. The laundry and main trash room are located in the basement, as well as a handful of rooms from either side.
On the first floor, the blue-walled North is separated from the yellow-walled South by a large, empty and borderline derelict space that used to be its kitchen. This will not be the case for long, however, as the dorm is expecting to get its own Golden Pear Kitchen, which will be installed over the summer. North Rockefeller’s lavish common room is strictly yellow and blue, with a yellow brick sunroom to the side. Meanwhile, South Rockefeller’s common room is mostly the same, but adds a lot of red to the color scheme, and is no less lavish. In both halves are a small TV room, a computer room and an empty but clean area that presumably was once a dining space.
North Rockefeller Hall houses two different LLCs: the Shirley Chisholm for Black students, and the Mi Gente for Latine students. Both of these LLCs have their own lounges in the dorm. Mi Gente Resident Francesca Aguerrebere ’26 was very complimentary of the LLC, saying “I absolutely love living there, I love living with my other Latinx peers on campus, it brings a lot of community … All of the members have a key [to the lounge,] and that’s where we can go if we want to meet up, or just use the space to do homework or whatnot.”
One first-year resident of the Shirley, said: “I like it a lot, because I feel like we’re all a really tight-knit group, we all look out for one another here ... Sometimes we’ll gather in the third-floor lounge, we get to talk and discuss what’s been going on, and it’s good to have a community of people that you can just vent to sometimes.”
Rockefeller has a reputation as a party dorm, which has caused some tension between the residents and the partygoers. Another Rockefeller resident I spoke to mentioned that a party thrown the previous week was thrown by “people that don’t live here … That’s funky. And especially with the dorm being what the dorm is: the Shirley’s upstairs, so is Mi Gente. Why are white students throwing parties here? It’s a little weird. And then they come up [to Rockefeller Hall] and they don’t know how to act.”
Conversely, Aguerrebere spoke positively of parties thrown by friends. “I usually think they’re quite fun sometimes, if my friends are hosting them, I’ll go to them. Usually the students are pretty respectful. Sometimes they can be quite loud, but hey, we’re in college. I lived in a quiet dorm the previous year, and I actually prefer the music and a little bit more of the activity.”
Mandelle Hall
Built in 1923, a year earlier than Rockefeller Hall, Mandelle Hall is a deep red mammoth of a building that houses more students than any other dorm on campus. The oldest of Mount Holyoke’s “split” dorms, Mandelle sits near the far south edge of Prospect Hill, overlooking Lower Lake as well as the Gorse Children’s Center.
Inside, the walls are a very pale beige, with tan and gray linoleum on the floors and white trim on the doors and walls. The hallways are decently wide, and have lighting that is bright but not harsh. Big windows that show off the magnificent views Mandelle offers are also in the hallways. Resident Manuela Queiroz Ribas ’26 said that the dorm “feels very private. It's a great space away from the bustle where you can come and rest. The rooms are very big… and besides the parties, it’s kind of quiet.”
Though North and South are pretty much identical on their upper floors, things start to differ in the lower areas. South Mandelle’s basement comprises just the trunk room and laundry room, while North Mandelle’s basement has a few dorm rooms along with the laundry. While technically in the middle of the dorm, the Golden Pear Kitchen and a spacious lounge sit on North Mandelle's side. South Mandelle, meanwhile, contains the dorm’s only elevator, which is pretty small.
Queiroz Ribas went on to say that what makes Mandelle work is that it has “a lot of common spaces, so we have a lot of congregation and study spaces. I really like being by the lake … but being up a hill can be rough in terms of the walk.”
South Mandelle has a more regal and ornate common room, visible in the red and gold carpet, detailed artwork on the walls and large, albeit half-full, bookshelves. On one of the upper floors is an empty blue lounge, though its purpose does not seem obvious.
North Mandelle’s common room is green and blue, with much of the same fancy trimmings. It also has no elevator. It does, however, house the college’s Outdoor Adventure LLC, which has a very charming lounge, and it has rooms in the dorm’s very white and pipe-ceilinged basement. North and South Mandelle are separated by a simple red stairwell that runs from the top floor to the first floor of North.
Like Rockefeller, Mandelle Hall also has a reputation as a party dorm. Resident Sophia Perillo ‘24 described the dorm as “peaceful, but also energetic. I find during the week, it’s a pretty calm dorm, but then on the weekends, there’s a lot going on, a lot of fun … I don’t really tend to go to [the parties] ... I hear some noises … [but] I don’t find it [hard to concentrate.] Closing my windows is the best option.”
Dickinson House
Built in 1916, Dickinson House was originally built for faculty before eventually becoming student housing. It is a rectangular brown brick building very distant from the rest of the College, sitting a way down Faculty Lane, at the southeast corner of campus. Barring Pearsons Annex, Dickinson has the smallest capacity on campus, not quite as long and indeed half as many floors as other dorms. At the front of the dorm is a slight hill leading to campus at Chapin Auditorium, and at the back is a wide-open yard with pretty trees.
Dickinson is a compact house, with the first floor holding the dorm’s Golden Pear kitchen, laundry room, trash room, computer room and common room, as well as a few dorm rooms. In the upper floors are medium hallways, beige linoleum floors and wooden trim for the doors and white walls. Also at the back are two elegant balconies for each of the upper floors, supported by tall white columns and railings. These balconies can be used by the lucky residents of two dorm rooms.
The common room has an old-fashioned box piano, a smooth-tiled fireplace and an inspiring quote from Mount Holyoke alum Frances Perkins on the wall. While the older “bones” of the twentieth century remain, the common room has stayed updated with blue blocky furniture, a big TV and minimalistic light fixtures. Resident Kibriya Cooper-Malek ’26 described Dickinson as being “cozy, fairly quiet and very pretty. It’s a bit far, but I think everyone signs up knowing that.” In my experience living there, due to the dorm’s distant location, it was often way behind on updated flyers or news deliveries.
An Explorer’s Opinions
The main thing I noticed about Mandelle Hall and Rockefeller Hall was that they are big. While not as tall as other dorms, they are certainly very wide, and try to fill up their space as best as possible with artwork, furniture and frequent parties. As previously mentioned, the second floor of Mandelle Hall has a step between North and South, which I can imagine wouldn’t be very convenient for a student with mobility problems trying to get from one side to the other. I think it would definitely serve both Mandelle Hall and Rockefeller Hall well to have elevators on both sides.
As someone who has lived in Dickinson, I haven’t forgotten many of the complaints I once had about it: It’s too far, it’s too plain, it’s not Pearsons (stay tuned). I only somewhat agree with these statements now. It may not be for everyone, but I appreciate having a walk in the morning, and I do love having a kitchen. Every dorm has its own flaws, but living anywhere for at least seven months, more often than not will work to endear a resident to it.