Alumni and
Dillon Hall were built as part of an extensive building program that started in the mid 20s and aimed at improving educational and living facilities, and increasing supply of on-campus residential facilities. The two dorms were expected to cost $850,000 and add host 500 students to reduce the housing shortage and increase on-campus students to 2,600. Funds were collected through the Alumni Association and a $250,000 gift from the
General Education Board. Construction of Alumni Hall was part of a four building construction program for the southern edge of campus which cost more than $1,600,000 and also included Dillon, Cushing, and Hurley. , and ornate with the statue of "Joe College" and gargoyles modeled on those of
Notre-Dame de Paris The
Maginnis & Walsh was known at the time for its innovative and refined gothic design of churches and campuses in Boston, and was behind the campus architecture of
Boston College and the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The architectural style of both Dillon and Alumni was in line with the previous gothic building on campus by Kervick and Fagan such as Morrissey, with local yellow brick with limestone trimmings, adorned with stone carvings on the facade and the interiors. Built at a total cost of $375,000, Alumni Hall had 169 single rooms and 20 doubles, in addition to those of the rector and the prefects and was at the time one of the most imposing residence halls on campus. At the time of dedication, it was among the most modern dormitories in the Midwest. The hall was so named in honor of the university's alumni. This fund was instead first invested in Liberty Bonds in 1917, and then again loaned to the university for other projects. When the project was revived in 1920, issues with the building field prevented construction. Again, in 1922 funds were collected but instead of initiating construction, the Alumni Associated gave more than $60,000 to the university to complete the fund to secure funds from the
General Education Board. To honor this continued support of the Alumni Association, the university decided to name the hall 'Alumni Hall' in 1931. In 1932, during its second year of existence, it won the interhall football championship. During
World War II, Dillon and Alumni hosted officers for the
V-12 Navy College Training Program. When
Navy trainees took over the residence starting in the summer of 1943, Alumni's residents squeezed in with one another, turning all singles into doubles. The space was so cramped that Dave Condon '49, later a sportswriter for the
Chicago Tribune, wrote in
Scholastic that "when someone entered by the front door, it necessitated someone else leaving by the rear egress." Alumni Hall reverted to civilian student use in early 1945. Rev. Charles Carey, CSC, was named rector of Alumni in 1949. In 1965, together with Farley and
Dillon, it was the first dorm to try the "stay-hall" system, in which residents could stay all four years in the same hall rather than being divided by class as they were up until the 1960s. Rev. George Rozum, CSC served as rector of Alumni Hall from 1978 to 2019, becoming the longest serving rector in the history of the university. In 2015, Philip Faccenda endowed the rectorship of the hall, and established the Philip J. and Kathryn K. Faccenda Family Rectorship at Alumni Hall. As part of the university's program of residential hall renovation, Alumni was renovated during the 2022–2023 academic year, and its residents were temporarily housed in Zahm Hall, known as "Alumni Community in Zahm Hall". ==Description==