Residence Life
Residence Hall Descriptions
Take a Virtual Tour of the residence halls and campus, put together by the Admissions Office.
All Reed residence halls are non-smoking as well as co-ed, with the exception of the Women's floor in Bragdon. There are four types of residence hall rooms available to students at Reed: singles, undivided doubles, divided doubles, and triples. Most divided doubles consist of two rooms separated by a door, with an outer room opening onto the hallway. In the Grove, the divided doubles are separated by a walled division but share a door onto the hallway.
Many residence halls on campus house Theme Communities. Theme Communities are student organized communities where students of similar interests can reside under the same roof. These communities reside primarily in the Cross-Canyon Residence Halls, in Foster and Scholtz, and in the Farm and Garden houses. To learn more about theme housing opportunities and what themes are available this year, visit our Theme Housing webpage.
Residence Life staff lives in each residence hall on campus. This staff includes House Advisors, student-staff members who live in the residence halls, build community, mediate conflicts, and help other students navigate campus resources, and Resident Directors, professional staff who manage the buildings and supervise the House Advisors. The main Residence Life office is located in 28W, where you will find our administrative staff offices and the Assistant Dean of Residence Life. If you are interested in contacting Residence Life or learning more about our staff or finding out how to contact your Resident Director, visit the main Res Life page and Contact Residence Life.Anna Mann
At the bequest of Anna Mann, a friend of Amanda Reed, this hall was initially fashioned as a residential cottage for women. Anna Mann was remodeled and expanded in 1993. Many of the rooms have fireplaces, window seats, and hardwood floors. The first floor features a living room, fully equipped kitchen, laundry facilities and a sun porch.
- Anna Mann
- Occupancy: 30 (20 single & 5 double rooms)
Birchwood Apartments
Offering the advantages of both on- and off-campus living, located on the northwest corner of campus, five to seven minutes from the campus center, you’ll find the Birchwood Apartments. The Birchwoods are another housing option available for returning and transfer students. The apartments are fully furnished with kitchens, living rooms, and either one or two bedrooms. Students usually select other students with whom they would like to live. This is the only on-campus housing that remains open to students during winter and summer breaks. Students in college apartments have the option to be on or off a board plan.
- Birchwoods
- Occupancy: 68 (24 townhouse style two bedroom apts, 6 single level two bedroom apts & 8 one bedroom apts
Bragdon
Built in 1998, and named for former president Paul Bragdon (1971-88), Bragdon Hall has fully equipped kitchens, spacious rooms, and lounges with expansive windows. Bragdon features a laundry room, a storage room and an indoor bike storage area. Many people think of a ski lodge when looking at the architecture of Bragdon.
- Bragdon Hall
- Occupancy: 62 (36 single & 13 double rooms)
Canyon, Farm & Garden Houses
These three houses can be found on the western edge of campus, near the RCAs on SE 28th Ave. Each house serves as a residence hall for a very small number of students. These houses offer unique campus living environments, the opportunity to live in a house without having to live off-campus. These houses also have the same amenities that all of the residence halls have, commons spaces, kitchens, dining rooms, laundry facilities & storage rooms. The Farm House and Garden House are both currently home to student co-ops that are available only to returning students through the theme housing system. To learn more about the student co-ops, visit our Theme Communities page.
- Canyon House
- Occupancy: 8 single rooms
- Farm House
- Occupancy: 7 (3 single & 2 double rooms)
- Garden House
- Occupancy 10 single rooms
Cross Canyon Residence Halls: Chittick, Griffin, McKinley, and Woodbridge
These four residence halls, across a lake that divides the campus, are set in a grassy, wooded area. Each building was named for early faculty members. All of these residences are coed by rooms and include singles, divided and undivided doubles, and divided triples. The small size and physical composition of the cross canyon buildings foster a strong sense of community among the residents. Each of the halls has a full kitchen, laundry room, and spacious tri-level social room with a fireplace.
- Chittick
- Occupancy: 25 (6 singles, 8 doubles & 1 triple room)
- Griffin
- Occupancy: 26 (5 singles, 9 doubles & 1 triple room)
- McKinley
- Occupancy: 26 (6 singles, 7 doubles & 2 triple room)
- Woodbridge
- Occupancy: 27 (5 singles, 8 doubles & 2 triple room)
Foster, Scholz & MacNaughton
Built in 1954-55, these three residence halls were once two residence halls: Foster-Scholz, a men’s residence hall, and MacNaughton, a women’s residence hall. Each was named for Reed presidents; Foster-Scholz for the first two presidents, William T. Foster and Richard F. Scholz, and for Ernest B. MacNaughton, who was president from 1948 to 1952. These residence halls, in the southwest corner of campus, all have spacious rooms with large windows, which provide plenty of light in all seasons. Each building has three floors, and each floor is considered a separate living community for 13-30 students. Most of the floors have large lounges with partial or full kitchens.
- Foster
- Occupancy: 45 (23 single & 11 double rooms)
- Other Amenities: Laundry on lowest level, indoor bike storage, large shared lounge with Scholz that contains cable tv, dvd player and a ping-poing table
- Scholz
- Occupancy: 43 (27 single & 8 double rooms)
- Other Amenities: Laundry on lowest level, indoor bike storage, large shared lounge with Foster that contains cable tv, dvd player and a ping-poing table
- MacNaughton
- Occupancy: 70 (36 single & 17 double rooms)
- Other Amenities: Laundry on lowest level, indorr bike storage located near laundry room
The Grove: Bidwell, Aspen, Sequoia & Sitka
These four houses, designed by Zimmer, Gunsul and Frasca architecture firm, were completed in 2008. Along with the new Spanish House, these residence halls are the newest additions to the Reed campus. Designed with Anna Mann in mind, the architects set out to create buildings that have a strong sense of community, yet are as small and inviting as a house. The four buildings form a quad on the north side of campus, facing the canyon, and each building has a large first floor made up of mostly common spaces. All four buildings feature first-floor living and dining areas and kitchens, tv rooms with cable channels and dvd players, study rooms, a laundry room, plus outdoor "spill-out" terraces for socializing. Some of the floors have study rooms as well. The buildings share a common vocabulary of red brick and stucco, with slate-shingle gabled roofs trimmed in copper. Our newest buildings are designed with sustainability in mind, and are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. The residence hall's "green" features include landscaping that filters storm water runoff into a natural spring; ventilation stacks built to resemble chimneys that will cool the buildings naturally; and an array of environmentally sensitive materials such as flooring, window glass, and roof tiles.
- Bidwell
- Occupancy: 29 (15 single & 7 double rooms)
- Aspen
- Occupancy: 29 (15 single & 7 double rooms)
- Other Amenities: Large multipurpose room reservable for campus events, Cafe Paradiso - the newest eatery on campus, open from 8am-8pm on weekdays
- Sequoia
- Occupancy: 31 (13 single & 9 double rooms)
- Other Amenities: Storage room in the basement for students
- Sitka
- Occupancy: 36 (17 single, 8 double & 1 triple room)
- Other Amenities: 125 basement spaces for bike storage
Language Houses: Chinese, French, German, Russian & Spanish
Originally four houses, designed by A.E. Doyle and built in 1922, were once home to faculty. In Fall 2008 a new addition, the Spanish House, was completed by Hennebery Eddy Architects. The new Spanish House was designed to compliment A.E. Doyle's original design of the other four houses. An International Plaza was also completed in 2008 to give residents an outdoor gathering space to celebrate and to foster community between the houses. Residents of the Woodstock houses are students who demonstrate second-year language proficiency, converse primarily in that language, and are aided by live-in language scholars and native-speaking students. All of the houses sponsor campuswide cultural events including film festivals, meals, cultural events and concerts. In front of the German house to the southwest is a Black Oak (Quercus velutina) that has achieved the heritage tree designation (the finest example of its kind in Portland).
The language houses have fireplaces, pianos, bay windows with bench seating, bookshelves filled with educational materials, and TVs with cable programming from the cultures for students to gather and use to enhance the language speaking and listening skills.
- Chinese
- Occupancy: 7 single rooms
- French
- Occupancy: 8 single rooms
- German
- Occupancy: 8 single rooms
- Russian
- Occupancy: 7 single rooms
- Other Amenities: Loft style rooms upstairs
- Spanish
- Occupancy: 17 single rooms
- Other Amenities: Study lounges on the second and third floor overlooking the International Plaza, a fireplace, dining room that transforms into a classroom equipped with a white board and projector
Naito & Sullivan
Naito Hall and Sullivan Hall were completed in August 1997. These residence halls have kitchens, common areas, and great views toward the Portland west hills. The floors are divided into two wings, with approximately 15 students each. The small communities all have large lounges with full kitchens. All of the social rooms have outdoor balconies. The third floor rooms in Naito have beautiful unobstructed views of downtown Portland.
- Naito
- Occupancy: 74 (46 single & 14 double rooms)
- Other Amenities: Spacious furnished lounge on the first floor complete with a ping-pong table and a television with cable channels and a dvd player, laundry room, storage room, and an indoor bike storage room
- Sullivan
- Occupancy: 83 (51 single & 16 double rooms)
- Other Amenities: Laundry room, storage room, and an indoor bike storage room
Old Dorm Block
Old Dorm Block was built in 1912 and remodeled in 1992. The design was inspired by old English manor houses, with grotesques scattered about the roofs and doorways. On the south side of the building, flanking the Sallyport, are Lux, or light, a figure greeting the day (east), and Nox, or night, closing its eyes for sleep (west).
Looking at the Old Dorm Block chimney structure, you will spot two weather-beaten statues of beavers, which honor Oregon, the beaver state. At various times in the college’s history, a look in the same direction may have yielded a rare glimpse of the "House F" or Doyle owl statue. The legend of this popular Reed figure is complex, somewhat daring, and imbued with humorous details.
Old Dorm Block is divided into eight residence halls initially identified by letters A through H, but known today as Winch, Quincy, Doyle, Eastport, Westport, Kerr, Abington, and Ladd. The residence halls were renamed in 1935 to recognize Martin Winch, nephew of the Simeon Reeds; Quincy, Massachusetts, a former home for the Reeds; A. E. Doyle, architect; James B. Kerr, president of the board of trustees for a decade; Abington, Massachusetts, a former home for the Reeds; and finally, William M. Ladd, who provided the initial gift of land for the college and was chairman of the board of regents (1919-31). These residence halls are some of the most popular on campus, as they are quite spacious and many have fireplaces, balconies, and window seats. Other amenities include kitchenettes (without ovens), a large reservable lounge for all students with TV and a pool table in Winch/Capehart, and a launrdy room, bike storage and student storage space all located in the basement.
- Old Dorm Block
- Occupancy: 118 (54 singles, 32 doubles & 1 triple). Room sizes varies widely.
Reed College Apartments (RCAs)
Offering the advantages of both on- and off-campus living, located on the northwest corner of campus, five to seven minutes from the campus center, you’ll find the Reed College Apartments (RCAs). Acquired by the college in 1986, the RCAs are another housing option available for returning and transfer students. The apartments are fully furnished with kitchens, living rooms, and either one or two bedrooms. Students usually select other students with whom they would like to live. This is the only on-campus housing that remains open to students during winter and summer breaks. Students in college apartments have the option to be on or off a board plan.
- RCAs
- Occupancy: 57 (13 one bedroom apts, 14 single level two bedroom apts & 8 townhouse style two bedroom apts)