258 South Willard Street

Walking Distance to Center of Campus: Approximately .02 miles

Pearl Hall is literally surrounded by Champlain buildings and offers the most convenience in a residence hall for Champlain students. Pearl Hall is the closest residence hall to the fitness center, dining hall, gym, and the entire IDX Student Life Center. The primarily first year residents of Pearl describe its beautiful tile bathrooms and its large porch as creating a comfortable living space on campus. Pearl Hall is also very close to most academic buildings on campus, making it a short walk from bedroom-to-classroom! Pearl Hall houses approximately 49, creating a great environment for meeting new people and making new friends. Pearl’s room layout is quite unique, from turret rooms to L-shapes, to corner singles, Pearl has something for everybody. Its brand new front porch is a great place to hang out with friends or to get some studying done on a warm fall day. Like all Champlain College residence halls, Pearl Hall has cable television and wireless internet. All residence halls are smoke and substance free, co-ed communities.

A Brief History of Pearl Hall

Year of Construction: 1888

Original Owner: A. B. Fisher

Year Acquired by Champlain College: 1968

Although Pearl Hall is not at first glance as imposing a structure as some of the other properties owned by the College, it is of particular importance to the history of Burlington and of Champlain College, because this is the house that the architect A. B. Fisher built for himself in 1888. Fisher and his son, also an architect, designed the house as a simple, yet elegant Victorian home. Fisher, however, did not live in the house for very long. After his wife died in 1891, he sold the house to C. R. Turrill, secretary for the Vermont Life Insurance Company, who then sold it to H. Nelson Jackson, who bought it for his father, the Reverend Samuel Jackson, to live in [link to Durick Hall]. The house was inherited by Reverend Jackson's son, J. Holmes Jackson, a prominent dentist and several times mayor of Burlington. In 1937 the building was converted to an apartment house. It was leased by Champlain College as a dormitory for women students in the 1960's, when it was known as Brault House, since that was the name of the family that owned the building. It was purchased by Champlain College in 1968 and renamed Pearl Hall to honor H. Dean Pearl, former principal of Burlington High School, professor of education at the University of Vermont, and for seven years, Director of Admissions at Champlain College. Joyce Hall was also built on property that was part of this estate [link to Joyce Hall]. Pearl Hall's original Carriage House was Pearl Annex, which was torn down to make room for the IDX Student Life Center.