North American fraternity and sorority housing refers largely to the houses or housing areas in which fraternity and sorority members live and work together. In addition to serving as housing, fraternity and sorority housing may also serve to host social gatherings, meetings, and functions that benefit the community.
History The first fraternity house seems to have been located at Alpha Epsilon of Chi Psi at the University of Michigan around 1846. As fraternity membership was punishable by expulsion at many colleges at this time, the house, "an abandoned log hut" was located deep in the woods.
Fraternity chapter housing initially existed in two forms: lodges that served as meeting rooms and houses that had boarding rooms. The lodges came first and were largely replaced by houses with living accommodations. Lodges were often no more than rented rooms above stores or taverns. The idea of substantial fraternity housing caught on quickly, but was accomplished with much greater ease in the North as southern college students had far less available money for construction.
The first fraternity house in the South was likely one rented by members of Beta Theta Pi at Hampden–Sydney College from at least 1856. Alpha Tau Omega was then the first fraternity to own a house in the South when, in 1880, its chapter at The University of the South acquired one.
Early chapters of women's fraternities often rented houses where they could live together, usually with a chaperone. This was in a day before colleges and universities had housing available. The first chapter house built by a women's fraternity was the one Alpha Phi erected at Syracuse University in 1886.
Many colleges eventually came to support fraternity and sorority housing as they allowed increased enrollment without the construction of costly dormitories. The nature of this benefit varied between campuses as some houses were paid for entirely by alumni, some were rented, and some were built on land leased from the college. It was further recognized that, while fraternities having chapter houses did not raise academic performance, it did tend to keep it from falling as the chapters could not afford (financially) to have members leaving school and no longer paying for their rooms.
The Inter-Sorority Congress of 1913 saw the establishment of uniform rules and regulations regarding life in chapter houses. The number of houses owned by fraternities and sororities grew from 772 in 1915 to 928 in 1920.
Design
Fraternity and sorority houses vary greatly in size and aesthetics. They can usually be identified by large Greek letters or flags on the front of the house. Larger chapter houses generally have a large meeting room, a large dining room, a commercial kitchen, and a study room. There is usually a lounge of some sort, access to which is often restricted to fully initiated members. Fraternities and sororities will also often maintain a chapter room, to which only initiates may ever be admitted and even whose existence may be kept secret. The walls of the house may be decorated with pictures of past chapter events, awards, and trophies, decorative (or historic) paddles, or composite photos of members from past years.
In some fraternities or sororities, only some members live in the house while in others the entire fraternity or sorority may live in the house. Other, larger fraternities or sororities may have more than one house to accommodate all of its members.
At many colleges, Greek houses are placed on the same street which is traditionally referred to as "Greek Row."
Policies Fraternity and sorority houses are typically owned either by a corporation of alumni, the sponsoring national organization, or the host college. For this reason, such houses may be subject to the rules of the host college, the national organization, or both.
Due to the increase in widely publicized alcohol-related deaths on college campuses, many national organizations and host colleges have implemented dry housing policies in which the consumption and possession of alcohol are prohibited on house property. Some colleges make this policy conditional on overall grade performance.
In addition to banning alcohol, many university-owned fraternity and sorority houses have smoking bans in place inside. Because of residential requirements, some college campuses and national chapter administrations also prohibit members of the opposite sex on certain floors of fraternity and sorority houses.
Founded in 2017, the Fraternal Housing Association is a national membership that supports the unique challenges of managing fraternity and sorority housing.
National Register chapter houses The following fraternity and sorority chapter houses are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Demolished structures are indicated in italics. NameOrganizationArchitectInstitutionLocationYear completedAlpha Delta Phi Fraternity House Alpha Delta PhiRalph W. VarneyUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignChampaign, Illinois1925Alpha House Alpha Phi Alpha Detroit, Michigan1912Alpha Phi Fraternity House-Beta Alpha ChapterAlpha PhiCharles Harris (1937 remodel)University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign Champaign, Illinois1909Alpha Rho Chi Fraternity House Alpha Rho ChiRoyer, Danley, and SmithUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignChampaign, Illinois1928Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity House Alpha Tau OmegaLehman "Monk" FerrisUniversity of NevadaReno, Nevada1929Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity House (Maltese Manor)Alpha Tau OmegaPurdue UniversityWest Lafayette, Indiana1920Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House Beta Theta PiFrederick J. KleinUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignChampaign, Illinois1912Beta Theta Pi Fraternity HouseBeta Theta PiUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel Hill, North Carolina1929Harold C. Bradley HouseSigma Phi SocietyLouis H. Sullivan and George Grant ElmslieUniversity of Wisconsin–MadisonMadison, Wisconsin,1909Chi Omega Chapter HouseChi OmegaCharles L. EllisUniversity of ArkansasFayetteville, Arkansas1927Chi Psi Fraternity HouseChi PsiRichard SundeleafUniversity of OregonEugene, Oregon1935Colonials Club HouseColonial Club, Theta Delta Chi,Proudfoot & Bird; Woodburn & O'NeilIowa State UniversityAmes, Iowa1910Deke HouseDelta Kappa EpsilonWilliam Henry MillerCornell UniversityIthaca, New York1893Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity HouseDelta Kappa EpsilonE. G. OldefestUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignChampaign, Illinois1906Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity HouseDelta Kappa EpsilonRobert Frost DaggettDePauw UniversityGreencastle, Indiana1926Delta Psi, Alpha Chapter buildingSt. Anthony HallHenry Hornbostel and George Carnegie PalmerColumbia UniversityManhattan, New York City, New York1898Delta Tau Delta Founders HouseDelta Tau DeltaBethany CollegeBethany, West Virginia1858Delta Upsilon Chapter HouseDelta UpsilonAlexander M. LinnIowa State UniversityAmes, Iowa1930Delta Upsilon Fraternity House Delta UpsilonAlbert KahnUniversity of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan1903Delta Upsilon Fraternity HouseDelta UpsilonLeonard SteubeUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignChampaign, Illinois1927Dr. William Gifford HouseTau Kappa EpsilonWilliam W. SabinCleveland State UniversityCleveland, OhioHancock House Alpha Phi AlphaM. H. PettigoBluefield State UniversityBluefield, West Virginia1907Iowa Beta Chapter of Sigma Phi EpsilonSigma Phi EpsilonAmos B. EmeryIowa State UniversityAmes, Iowa1931Kappa Delta Rho Fraternity HouseKappa Delta RhoUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignChampaign, Illinois1928Kappa Sigma Fraternity HouseKappa SigmaArchie H. HubbardUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignChampaign, Illinois1911Kappa Sigma Fraternity, Gamma Theta ChapterKappa SigmaUniversity of IdahoMoscow, Idaho1916LlenrocDelta PhiNichols & BrownCornell UniversityIthaca, New York1865; 1911Old Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity HouseAlpha Tau Omega George LillUniversity of OregonEugene, Oregon1910Old Beta Theta Pi Fraternity HouseBeta Theta Pi, Delta ZetaUniversity of OregonEugene, Oregon1906Omega Chapter of the Chi Phi FraternityChi PhiGeorgia TechAtlanta, Georgia1929Parish ApartmentsSigma Pi, Xi Psi Phi, Xi Psi Phi Myron Edwards PughUniversity of IowaIowa City, Iowa1929Phi Delta Theta Fraternity House Phi Delta ThetaHoward Van Doren ShawUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignChampaign, Illinois1922Phi Delta Theta Fraternity HousePhi Delta ThetaMartin I. AitkenUniversity of Nebraska–LincolnLincoln, Nebraska1937Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity House Phi Gamma DeltaCarl Stravs and Madsen BrothersUniversity of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota1912Phi Gamma Delta HousePhi Gamma DeltaCrowell & LancasterUniversity of MaineOrono, Maine1925Pi Chapter House of Psi Upsilon FraternityPsi UpsilonWellington W. TaberSyracuse UniversitySyracuse, New York1898Porcellian ClubPorcellian ClubWilliam York PetersHarvard UniversityCambridge, MassachusettsSaint Anthony Hall St. Anthony HallJ. Cleaveland Cady.Trinity CollegeHartford, Connecticut1878St. Anthony Hall HouseSt. Anthony HallCope and StewardsonUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania1907Sigma Alpha Epsilon Chapter HouseSigma Alpha EpsilonRussell S. PotterMiami UniversityOxford, Ohio1938Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity HouseSigma Alpha EpsilonGeorge Dean and Albert DeanUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignChampaign, Illinois1907Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity HouseSigma Alpha EpsilonFred Wallace; Marshall and BrownUniversity of MissouriColumbia, Missouri1908Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity HouseSigma Alpha EpsilonCharles I. CarpenterUniversity of IdahoMoscow, Idaho1932Sigma Sigma–Delta Chi Fraternity HouseSigma Sigma, Delta Chi, Triangle FraternityIowa State UniversityAmes, Iowa1924Theta Xi Fraternity Chapter HouseTheta XiJoseph M. LawlorRensselaer Polytechnic InstituteTroy, New York1931Thorsen HouseSigma Phi SocietyGreene & GreeneUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeley, California1909Welch HallSigma Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Sigma PhiDavid Frederick Wallace (1929 renovation)University of MissouriColumbia, Missouri1820, 1907Xi Chapter, Psi Upsilon FraternityPsi Upsilon Colin C. WilsonWesleyan UniversityMiddletown, Connecticut1891Zeta Psi Fraternity House at Lafayette CollegeZeta PsiJames Barnes Baker and William Marsh MiclerLafayette CollegeEaston, Pennsylvania1910
Notable chapter houses by size