Bryn Mawr College Historic District

Bryn Mawr College's campus in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, was laid out after the college opened in 1885 and contains buildings spanning three architectural periods. Addison Hutton's high Victorian Gothic Taylor Hall, completed in 1879 with its asymmetric tower, gives way to a series of collegiate Gothic buildings by Walter Cope and John Stewardson, including Denbigh, Pembroke and Thomas Library, which together formed the style the firm became known for. Goodhart Hall, completed in 1928, used a molded concrete skeleton behind its Gothic exterior, and Louis Kahn's Erdman Hall of 1963-65 reinterprets the campus's earlier forms. The college itself is tied to the advancement of women's education. Founded by Dr. Joseph Taylor, it was led from 1893 to 1922 by M. Carey Thomas, who pushed for entrance standards matching Harvard's and graduate degrees for women. The district is significant for both its architecture and its role in higher education for women.