Shreve Hall originally opened the fall semester of the 1970 academic year. Named for Eleanor Burns Shreve and her husband Randolph Norris Shreve

R. Norris Shreve

Randolph Norris Shreve was a chemical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, educator and collector. After joining the Purdue University faculty in 1930, he helped to build the University’s School of Chemical Engineering, the Purdue-Taiwan Engineering Project, and National Cheng Kung University in...

, former Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

 faculty, Shreve was the first residence hall at Purdue designed to be co-educational, although Shreve was originally built for the purpose of adding a new Women’s hall to Purdue. When built, Shreve Hall was the fourth largest residence hall on the west side of Purdue’s campus.

The Design

From the outside Shreve Hall was built to resemble the three other eight story residence halls already located at Purdue University, but the inside contains the best of each residence hall at Purdue. Shreve Hall was built to house 864 residents with 54 residents on each floor. Being designed to be a women’s hall Shreve was built with a kitchenette

Kitchenette

A kitchenette is a small cooking area.In motel and hotel rooms, small apartments, college dormitories, or office buildings a kitchenette usually consists of a small refrigerator, a microwave oven or hotplate, and, less frequently, a sink...

 and a drip-dry room, a place where residents can hang wet clothes that cannot be dried, on every floor. Each floor was also designed to have a study room on every floor. Shreve was also built with many other amenities the other halls lacked. Shreve was built with a stag lounge on the first floor of both wings to be used for studying or social gatherings; the hall was also built with a second floor common area including a recreational lounge, a vending lounge, a study lounge, a mail room, and the main lobby. Shreve was also built to house its own dining court with a large dining room separated into three different sections for residents to sit in depending on their mood. The rooms were designed to give the residents choices on how to arrange the rooms. The beds were made to stand alone and be separate or to be bunk beds. The rooms also feature built in dresser drawers and walk in closets. Each room also contains a high top desk that can either be placed at the foot of the bed, creating an alcove, or can be turned with the back against the wall.

Present day

Although Shreve hall was built with student opinions and to offer the best of every residence hall already located at Purdue modern day; Shreve has many new things to offer residents. Each stag lounge houses a plasma TV, several tables with chairs, and a few couch

Couch

A couch, also called a sofa, is an item of furniture designed to seat more than one person, and providing support for the back and arms. Typically, it will have an armrest on either side. In homes couches are normally found in the family room, living room, den or the lounge...

es. The recreational lounge plays home to two billiard tables, two ping pong tables, an air-hockey table, a foosball table, and a big screen TV with several couches. The formal lobby has several over-sized chairs as well as several couches. The formal lounge also contains a piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

. The once was dining court is now uninhabited and the dining room now serves as a quiet study lounge. The lobby, the basement laundry room

Laundry room

A laundry room is a room where clothes are washed. In a modern home, a laundry room would be equipped with an automatic washing machine and clothes dryer,and often a large basin, called a laundry tub, for hand-washing delicate articles of clothing such as sweaters, and an ironing board...

, and lounges have the only wireless internet in the building.

The days of bunk beds have long since been replaced; today most students loft their beds to utilize space more adequately. Other changes that have taken place since Shreve’s opening in 1970 are the depletion of study rooms on every floor and the changing of kitchenettes to only the even floors. The drip-dry rooms have recently been converted to temporary housing until other rooms become available.