Main Campus Saint Joseph's University's main campus, often referred to as Hawk Hill, is located along
City Avenue, which splits the university between the western edge of Philadelphia and
Lower Merion Township. The university owns property on both the Philadelphia and Lower Merion sides of City Avenue. Hawk Hill is the original location of the university when it moved to City Avenue in 1927. Saint Joseph's most well-known building is
Barbelin Hall, which opened in 1927. The hall is known for its
Gothic architecture, particularly the gargoyles that mark what is called the Barbelin Quadrangle (or Barbelin Courtyard) and the tall, four-spired bell tower that can be seen from miles away. The bell tower that sits atop Barbelin served as the university's logo for several years. Barbelin Hall was built by
John McShain, who constructed
The Pentagon and the
Jefferson Memorial. The university's official mailing address is in Philadelphia. The two sides of the main campus are connected by both bridge and underpass allowing access across City Avenue. Its are concentrated from Cardinal Avenue to 52nd Street and Overbrook Avenue to City Avenue. With the acquisition of the Maguire Campus, one half of the are located on the Lower Merion side of City Avenue. In all, there are 99 buildings on the university's campus. The Hawk Hill campus features Barbelin Hall, Mandeville Hall, Bellarmine Hall, Post Hall, and the Science Center as the main academic halls. Green spaces on campus include St. Mary's, Claver House, and Wolfington lawns located on the Main Campus, in addition to two quadrangles, College Hall Quad and Barbelin Quad. The Post Learning Commons is the university's main library, the result of a renovation of the original Francis A. Drexel Library and an expansion project called the Post Learning Commons, from 2011 to 2013. Drexel Library and Post Learning Commons are connected via a glass atrium and bridge through the heart of campus. The Post Learning Commons houses approximately 355,000 volumes, 1,450 print journals, 15,000 full-text electronic journals, 2,800 e-books, 866,000 microforms, and 4,975 audio-visual materials. Unique to the Post Learning Commons is the Campbell Collection in Food Marketing. In September 2012, the university purchased the adjacent Cardinal's Residence on 54th and Cardinal Avenue from the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Beginning with the fall 2014 semester, the Cardinal's Residence was renamed the Maguire Wolfington Welcome Center. It serves as a welcome center for prospective families and has offices for all enrollment management operations. Campion Student Center is the hub for student activities, student life administrative offices, and dining facilities. The student center within Campion also features the Doyle Banquet Halls, Forum Theater, and President's Lounge used for larger gatherings and lectures on campus. Located just off Campion Student Center is Simpson Hall, which houses the Student Media Center and The Perch, a 24-hour student lounge. In 2023, the dining facilities were renovated, with the new dining facility being named "The Kettle". The Kettle utilizes the concept of
ghost kitchens and mobile ordering. The Kettle also offers a separate large dining area with
buffet-style food. Saint Joseph's University also owns multiple buildings in
Overbrook, located about a mile from the center of Hawk Hill near the
Overbrook Train Station. Currently the Overbrook campus holds four dorms, reserved exclusively for sophomores. These dorms are the Ashwood Apartments, Merion Gardens Apartments, Morris Townhouses, and Moore Hall. In May 2023, the university opened the Maguire Art Museum within the Arboretum after renovating many aspects of the building. The museum collaboration has been attributed by the university to a historic $50m gift made in 2017 by alumnus James Maguire ('58).
University City Campus On June 1, 2022, as a result of the merger with
University of the Sciences, Saint Joseph's acquired a second major campus. At the time of the merger, the University City campus covered approximately 24 acres of urban landscape in the section of West Philadelphia known as
University City, which also encompasses the
University of Pennsylvania and
Drexel University. In January 2025, the
Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Saint Joseph's University planned to sell the entire University City Campus and use the funds to construct additional buildings on the Hawk Hill campus. In September 2025, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Saint Joseph's University had reached an agreement with the Belmont Neighborhood Educational Alliance, an educational organization operating schools within Philadelphia.
Lancaster Campus The Lancaster Campus was acquired in 2024 as a result of the merger between Saint Joseph's University and the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences. The Lancaster Campus is the only campus at Saint Joseph's University not to offer on-campus housing.
Housing First-year students on Hawk Hill can choose from traditional residence halls (McShain Hall, Villiger Hall, or Sr. Thea Bowman Hall) or a suite-style residence hall (Sourin Residence Center). Sophomores can choose to live in several campus houses or apartments.
Current developments and plans In May 2022, the university announced SOAR: The Campaign for Saint Joseph's University. The largest fundraising campaign in the university's history, the campaign seeks to raise $300 million in order to improve the campus experience, affirm their commitment to financial aid, and to continue to improve and develop academic programs and research initiatives. Nearly a year later, the university announced that over half of the money sought by the campaign, $152 million, had been raised. As part of the campus plan, construction began on a new residence hall in Fall 2023, which the university named after
Sister Thea Bowman. Additional on-campus construction and developments are listed on the university's Campus Master Plan. == Admission and demographics ==