SAS Celebrates Grand Reopening of Fisher–Bennett Hall
January 2006
After an 18-month renovation project, the School of Arts and Sciences welcomed students and faculty back to Fisher–Bennett Hall with an open house celebration earlier this month.
A campus crossroads since 1924, Bennett Hall was closely tied with the history of women at Penn, serving as the home of the College for Women as well as the Bennett Union, Penn’s student union for women. Since 1974, Bennett Hall has housed the Department of English and been an important classroom space for all Penn undergraduates.
As it emerges from its renovation, the first comprehensive one in its long history, the building now bears the name Fisher–Bennett Hall in recognition of a leadership gift from Richard L. Fisher, C’63, G’67.
In addition to continuing to serve as the home of the Department of English, Fisher–Bennett Hall now houses the Cinema Studies Program and the College of General Studies English Language Programs; it is also the primary teaching space for Penn’s Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing and a critical teaching and rehearsal space for the Department of Music. Fisher–Bennett Hall will now provide teaching space each semester for over 240 courses in 40 departments and programs in its refurbished classrooms and seminar rooms.
The Fisher–Bennett Hall renovation project preserved and enhanced architecturally significant details of the building, including restoring a skylight that floods the grand staircase with natural light. Improvements throughout the building include technology-equipped classrooms, modernization of the air and heating systems, extensive soundproofing to block out distracting street sounds, and ample lighting in all spaces, from the basement to the fourth floor.
Among the highlights of the project was the reconfiguration of the former Penniman Library into four seminar rooms and an undergraduate study center with a soaring ceiling. The fourth floor has also undergone a dramatic transformation and now houses a number of practice and performance spaces for the Music Department. The project has also provided the School’s new Cinema Studies program with library space, as well as screening rooms and technology needed to support its curriculum.
Richard Fisher, a senior partner of the New York real estate development firm Fisher Brothers, earned a bachelor’s degree with honors and completed graduate studies in the English Department. Before turning to real estate, he was a teaching fellow in the department and wrote for “The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin” and “Philadelphia Magazine.” He is a former trustee and SAS overseer whose other gifts to Penn include the Richard L. Fisher Professorship in English.
In addition to Richard Fisher, the renovation project received support from numerous alumni and friends, including an anonymous gift to support the overall project and several other gifts of $1 million. A gift from Roxanne Bok, C’81, and Scott Bok, C’81, W’81, L’84, has provided for the creation of the Bok Garden in what was formerly unused space on the south side of the building. Mindy Heyer, C’79, W’79, WG’80, and Andrew Heyer, W’79, WG’79, provided support to renovate the building’s grand staircase. A gift from SAS Overseer Gary Rose, C’67, and Karen Bress Rose, CW’67, GSE’68, named the Rose Recital Hall, a music performance and lecture space on the fourth floor that seats 100.