Volusia
Facelift for a Stetson lady
Chaudoin Hall
renovation
By Ellen Koven
Back when female students attended class
garbed in high-button shoes, long frocks and
dainty be-ribboned hats, Stetson University
coeds were housed in a brand-new three-story dormitory, Chaudoin Hall.
The dorm was named for Dr. W.N. Chaudoin, an official of the Florida Baptist Convention from 1880-1904
and a Stetson trustee. It was built in three sections,
with the center section completed in 1892, the north
Stetson coeds in a tennis mood, circa 1899
wing in 1894 and the bathrooms finished in 1907.
In those days, coeds sat demurely in wicker chairs
on the front porch of the big brick building. Sometimes
they awaited their trim and proper dinner escorts in
the hall's high-ceiling parlor, within earshot of the
clinking of fine china in the nearby dining hall.
Always the stately lady of Stetson's campus, Chaudoin Hall today faces what few females look forward
to: aging.
The building is undergoing a $650,000 facelift recently announced by H. Graves Edmondson, university
vice president of business and finance.
Complete modernization is the goal, with the installation of a new central heating, ventilating and air
conditioning system, a slimnastics room, added study
rooms, a new stairway and laundry room. Seventy-six
dorm rooms are slated for total facelifts, and that
means new walls, ceilings and doors, and at least four
duplex electrical outlets in each.
The blueprint calls for redecoration of the student
lounges. Renovation of the 28 bathrooms is also on the
drawing board.
According to university records, a Mrs. C.W. Merrill
in 1907 sent the university a check for $50,000 to purchase bathtubs for the north wing.
The major portion of the building's original funding
came from John Stetson and C.T. Sampson, university
records show. In 1901 the sum of $1,000 stretched
enough to finish rooms on two floors of the north wing.
Always a women's dormitory, the building originally
housed two floors of dorm rooms, a suite for the Dean
of Women, guest rooms, parlors, a suite for the
steward, a large dining room, kitchens, bakery,
storeroom, with bathrooms completed several years
later. In 1935, the Florida Baptist Convention underwrote the cost of adding a south wing, housing two-
room suites with connecting bathrooms and a new
suite for the dean. The dean's original suite was then
converted into offices.
In 1937, when the dining room and kitchens were
moved to the Commons Building, Chaudoin Hall's dining room was converted into rooms for students.
Records show that total cost of the central section,
north wing, south wing and land was $112,000.
According to Bob Johnson, project supervisor, the
university's goal is "thorough modernization of the
facilities while preserving the character of the
building." No major changes in the building's ex! rior
are called for. The only visible changes will be f
removal of window air conditioners and impro*.
landscaping around the structure.
Johnson says work should be completed by Se; . 1.
Does this mean that coeds will no longer fan their
brows on the wide verandah on warm evenings?
Now that jogging has replaced fanning and sib ■
nasties has taken the place of parlor-sitting, the
renovation of Chaudoin Hall couldn't be more timely.
VOLUSIA, AUGUST 15, 1982, PAGE 8
