Stop 4 of 6
Clark Hall Expansion
A Law Dorm on Grounds
Audio guide — Stop 4: Clark Hall Expansion (2:54)
The narration follows the text and image descriptions on this page.
Law students spent nearly all their time at Clark Hall by the 1940s. Why not make it home? In 1941, the Law School proposed constructing a dormitory behind Clark. Law students would have everything they needed in this new law precinct, even a gym with handball courts. When the University returned to the “Law Quad” project in 1949, the proposed dorm included rooms for 258 law students and a dining hall inspired by universities like Oxford.
This Law Quad never came to be. By 1949, the post-war enrollment surge had slowed, as did state funding. The Law School focused on adding two new wings to its existing building (shown in the plan in cross hatching). A new quadrangle did take shape, but not the one envisioned here. The University arranged for law students to live in four new dorms across from Clark originally slotted for undergraduates, now Brown College. In 1957, the Judge Advocate General’s School built its own dormitory on the proposed site of the 1949 Law Quad, now called Kerchof Hall.
Plan for Law Quad Housing by architects Taylor & Fisher, 1949, UVA Law Library.
Image description
A bird’s-eye architectural drawing of a proposed residential building behind Clark Hall, creating a law quad. The plan marks spaces for student bedrooms, a large foyer and lounge, and a substantial dining room. The three-story central building is flanked by two smaller wings connected by arched walkways. Its blocky, institutional form is softened by a setting of mature trees and open lawns, giving the complex a more welcoming appearance.
In the Law Quad proposal, notice:
- The dormitory created a new law courtyard, or quadrangle.
- The residential plan cut the growing need for parking. When the project did not proceed in 1949, a coveted parking lot remained behind Clark.
- The proposed dorm referenced classical architecture and the style of many Virginia historic homes. The central structure with wings connected via arcades also mimicked the front design of Clark Hall.
What was built
Dormitory for the Judge Advocate General’s School, circa 1960s, Army JAG Corps Regimental Archives, Charlottesville, VA.
Image description
A photograph of a multi-story brick dormitory. The building has a simple rectangular form, regular rows of windows, and a restrained architectural style typical of mid-twentieth-century campus construction. The structure occupies the site once envisioned for the larger Law Quad project.