
Bryan Hall is the oldest existing structure on the Florida State University campus. Bryan Hall was named in honor of William James Bryan, a popular U.S. senator who died in 1907, the year the hall was built. It was the first in a series of residence halls built for the Florida Female College, which became the Florida State College for Women (FSCW) in 1909 and Florida State University in 1947. Designed in the “collegiate Gothic” style, the hall’s red-brick exterior, crenellation, arches and towers continue to influence the look of campus buildings being constructed today. The hall opened in September 1908, and its parlor and atrium quickly became the social center of campus and remained so into the mid-1920s. Japanese teas and masquerade balls were held in the parlor, the sunroom and atrium. During World War I, the YWCA lobby below the atrium in Bryan Hall was transformed into a Red Cross workroom, where students met between classes to roll bandages and make surgical dressings. Students met weekly in the Bryan sun parlor to knit jackets, scarves and socks for soldiers. Bryan Hall served as a residence hall until 1969, when a fire in the nearby Westcott Building forced administrators to seek office space there. Bryan Hall was renovated and returned to its original function as a residence hall when it reopened in August 1997 as FSU’s first Living-Learning Community.